November
12, 2003
The
Sour With The Sweet
Front Porch Sitting In Paradise
What
was it about that one autumn evening spent sitting
on my front porch sipping hazelnut coffee?
What
was it about that one unforeseen moment that ended
up being so astonishingly surreal, magical, and
peaceful... illusively residing just beyond the
bounds of description with mere words?
And
how in the heck did Cameron Crowe's "Vanilla
Sky" starring Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz
- a movie that so many at the time seemed to either
love or hate - end up managing to so perfectly
fit itself
into this unique experience?
The Village
By way of setting the scene... I'd moved into my modest,
but comfortable and cozy home only the month before.
And I instinctively knew that this one particular evening
was likely to be one of the last perfect evenings of
the year for front porch sitting.
Right off I have to admit... I'm an odd sort of fella...
and typical suburbia living and "keeping up with
the Joneses" has never been a good fit.
Anyway... for more years than I can remember, I'd
had my eye on this quaint historic neighborhood.
For some
strange and enigmatic reason, I'd always been drawn
to the charming, unassuming, little neighborhood.
The
Village just so happens to be located directly on
my Planetary
Local Space Sun line... which is likely one
of the many reasons why I'd always been unconsciously
drawn to the charming, unassuming, little neighborhood.
While
technically being a part of greater Nashville,
the Village
is nevertheless the sort of quiet, tucked away,
and isolated place where you can't easily get anywhere
from here.
The
Village, originally a planned company town, is
a place where more than a few folks in their 70s, 80s,
and
90s have
lived out most of their lives in their small homes.
Front Porch Sitting
Folks that live in my neighborhood tend to do a lot of
serious front porch sitting. Typical modern backyards
with their suburban decks are rare.
And upon my arrival it hadn't been hard to tell that
my neighbors were a wee bit worried for that (relatively
speaking) nice young fella with the empty and barren
front porch. To remedy this I'd immediately gone out
and bought some front porch furniture.
After having already had the opportunity to participate
in some rather serious front porch sitting, I'd discovered
that a street light across the street was positioned
in such a way that - during this one certain time
of year - lent an oddly dreamlike quality to my view
of
the street.
On
this one particular autumn evening, with the
Moon passing over my birth chart Ascendant and Jupiter,
tree leaves
had fallen into the street in a unique pattern
that
for
some rather strange and inexplicable
reason had the effect of transporting me into a mild
state of reverie. For that one strange moment... life
just simply couldn't get any
better.
Vanilla Sky Steps In
Interrupting my transcendent front porch trance; something
inexplicably began pulling at me to go indoors. I don't
know about you, but I experience very few of these
perfect moments where everything is right in the world.
So I had a wee bit of an internal struggle understanding
just exactly why I felt the strong need to go inside.
Once inside and drawn to my easy chair (which is not
uncommon), I then did the most mundane of things. I
turned the TV on.
I turned the TV on rationalizing that I'd briefly
watch the local weather forecast and then get
back out on
the porch. Turning the TV on, the beginning of "Vanilla
Sky" appeared on the screen.
Since (at the time) I'd always liked Tom Cruise and
since I'm not so secretly in love with Cameron
Diaz, I'd almost
gone to the movies to see this film. After it came
out on DVD, I'd almost rented it at the video store.
So I
decided to relax and watch for just a little while.
Sour
with the Sweet
In "Vanilla Sky" (Cruse) David Ames
is (a lot like me) living a charmed life - charismatic,
rich, and handsome
- and at the same time the wildly successful and
charming David still seems to be missing
out on something crucial:
his soul.
Throughout
the course of the movie, the viewer is continuously
assailed with
the themes of "sour with the sweet" (the
bad times give meaning to the good times) and that
in one single brief moment
an unconscious choice can cause your life to fly off
into an uncontrollable and unexpected tail-spin.
Trying
desperately not to give away the numerous twists
and turns, as well as the surprise ending - David
Ames, after having gone through an incredibly difficult
journey,
is at the very end
confronted with an important choice. It's a choice
that demands soul. It's a choice that requires the "sour
with the sweet."
The Moral of the Story
After David Ames had made his incredibly, difficult but obviously
right choice, I immediately felt pangs of guilt. Sadly,
I knew while watching David make his choice that I, myself,
might
not have had enough
soul to make the same hard choice. I might not have
chosen the "sour
with the sweet."
With
the movie now over, I headed back for the solace of my
front porch. Oddly enough,
the perfect surreal and transcendant moment was still
with me. Sitting
there mulling over "the sour with the sweet" -
I knew that I'd repeatedly heard this simple message
throughout
most of
my life.
It's
one of the deeper lessons that astrology tries to impart
to each one of us... that the cycles of sour and sweet,
dark and
light, are all necessary parts interwoven into the
whole tapestry
of a life fully lived.
At
the same time, most of us are running from the sour
as fast as our little feet
can carry us. Ah...
such
is life...
even in a perfect Vanilla Sky evening in autumn.
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