Spoiler alert: I’m going to talk about the movie “I’ll See You In My Dreams” so if you haven’t seen it and want to, stop reading now.

I assumed this movie was going to have a happy ending and I suppose, in a way, it did. Just not the one I was hoping for. Blythe Danner plays Carol…a widow of 20 years who has lived a comfortable, safe life since losing her husband in a terrible accident. She has girlfriends and a daughter but she doesn’t step outside her comfort zone until a series of events shake her world. She loses her beloved dog, makes an unlikely friendship over karaoke with the pool cleaner, goes ape over a rat that plagues her house, and gets coerced into speed dating by one of her girlfriends. Then…in walks Bill, played by Sam Elliot. He’s so handsome, and intriguing and shakes up her world. She begins to believe there may be another love in store for her when Bill unexpectedly dies very soon after they begin dating. Damn. This is NOT what I was expecting. I wanted them to fall in love and live happily ever after, but that’s not how life works. Life is messy and seldom has fairy tale endings.

After losing Mr. Virgo, I swore I would never, EVER have another relationship because I wasn’t at all sure I could survive another loss like that. But, being ever hopeful, I get out there, I live life, and I step out of my comfort zone on a regular basis. And as time has passed, that fear of losing another love has subsided. While it would be tragic, it would not kill me and that gives me hope. I don’t know that I’ll ever fall in love again, but I am no longer afraid of the possibility. And that is a huge change. It’s another step. Life is too short to live it in fear.

❤

“Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”

Matthew 6:34