We are nearing the end of this very bad, horrible, terrible, no-good year. And in the end, what do we have to show for it? We still have a pandemic threatening, we still have an unhinged president looming over this transition phase. In the end, like the end of many an epic tale, we only have each other.
In Casablanca, Rick Blaine (Humphrey Bogart) has lost Ingrid Bergman to her husband and to the resistance. Who does he have? In the end, after loss, learning and a broken heart – he could feel bereft. But he is changed, and in a single act it is clear, police captain Louis Renault (Claude Rains) is similarly transformed by the ordeal. They have each other. (All images, Copywright, Warner Bros.)
“Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.”
Dorothy Gale wanted out of Kansas – and dreamed (or escaped?) to The Wonderful Land of Oz – where she faced flying monkeys, wicked witches, met new friends, and was able to get herself and Toto back home, by tapping her ruby slippers, saying “there’s no place like home,” three times. In the end, it was her favorite people – oddly familiar – who she had looking out for her.
“No. But it wasn’t a dream — it was a place. And you — and you — and you — and you were there.”
The last line of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince shows us what to be grateful for.
“His hand closed automatically around the fake Horcrux, but in spite of everything, in spite of the dark and twisting path he saw stretching ahead for himself, in spite of the final meeting with Voldemort he knew must come, whether in a month, in a year, or in ten, he felt his heart lift at the thought that there was still one last golden day of peace left to enjoy with Ron and Hermione.”
We only have each other. And as we all approach Thanksgiving here in the US – in a time when we can’t travel to be with moms and grandmas, grandkids and loved ones, who can we gather around us and be grateful for?
I have you. You have been there for me this year, in a way that has started a movement. There is momentum, there is a cause. There are dedicated people achieving great things.
And I am truly, humbly, amazed and grateful for you.
I feel like we have started something big. So many of you are writing, regularly, and with satisfaction. Some are stuck, but are continuing to work on that knot without self-blame or reproach. We are connected and transformed by this ordeal of a year, and our work together, as we write right through it.
Some of my clients and I have logged over 100,000 words in the 21 days of November, so far, using NaNoWriMo as a mutual impetus. That’s new and exciting, too.
All this week, I’m offering a plotting tool as a free bonus – no email/registration or sign up necessary. Just go to the FB Group – Write Without the Fight, and you’ll get the link – FREE all week. (If you’re not a member, ask to join, and you’ll find a great group of serious minded writers swapping tips. And of course, you’ll find my Thanksgiving Gift.
We have each other, and that is a lot to be grateful for. Thank you, and have a lovely Thanksgiving. And what the hey, watch a movie! Here’s the 20 top Thanksgiving movies, according to Rotten Tomatoes.