What would you do?

Yesterday, I went to see Queen Latifah's new movie Last Holiday. After bumping her head on a cupboard door and gets checked out, she's told she has Lampington's disease and only has 3 weeks to live. She liquidates her IRA and bonds, quits her thankless job at a huge department store and checks in to a snazzy hotel in Prague (the Grand Hotel Pupp..pronounced like "poop". Swear to God). During her time there, she pretty much blows her money: after an altercation w/ a passenger in coach, she paid for First Class; her ride to the hotel was by helicopter, her room wasn't ready so she she paid to stay in the Presidential suite ($4000 a nite, BTW), got several spa treatments, took snowboarding lessons (hilarious scenes, that), had a base-jumping lesson, got a chance to prepare a fancy meal with one of her favorite chefs (played by Gerard Depardieu) , played roulette and won even more money (about $100,000. *sigh*. What to buy, what to buy. Oh, the dilemma), and attended a Smokey Robinson concert. Yeah, the real Smokey Robinson. Even Emeril made a cameo appearance. Of course, towards the end, she finds out that she was misdiagnosed (faulty MRI machine....OOPS! Hope I didn't ruin the movie for anybody *sheepish grin*).

But the whole point of the movie aks the question: If you knew you had 3 weeks to live, what would you do? If I had as much money saved up as Georgia (Queen Latifah's character) did--no amount was ever stated but it was assumed it was quite a lot--I would travel. I'm pretty sure I would never take snowboarding or ski lessons ( I don't like being cold), nor would I ever do base-jumping (the idea of getting caught up in a wind current only to be slammed into the wall of a dam doesn't appeal to me whatsover). However, I'd be all over the spa treatments. And I would stay in the best hotels, just like the movie stars, and stay in the most expensive suites--just like the movie stars. And it would be first class all the way--just like the, oh you get what I mean.

And when I die--hopefully of natural causes--I want to be cremated because "I've spent my whole life in a box. I don't want to be buried in one." (quoted straight from the movie. How profound is that?) The whole "living in a box" thing is a metaphor for being afraid to take chances in life, to try new things. Which is understandable for some. You get stuck in a rut (no rhyming intended) and you're so comfortable there that you get complacent. "This is good enough for me," you think. "I've been doing the same job for years, make good money, nice bennies. I have a good life with my husband/wife and kids. This is as good as it gets." But, is it? It doesn't have to be. It shouldn't have to be, right?

In the movie, Georgia had this binder called "Possibilities". In it, she had articles and pictures Emeril, culinary school brochures, pictures of gourmet cuisine (some that she's cooked herself, but never eaten, and some from food magazines), a picture of the Grand Hotel Pupp in Prague, and pictures of a couple who'd gotten married with her face and that of LL Cool J (her love interest) superimposed over them. Marriage, family, cooking school...these were things she thought she could have if just wasn't so afraid to go after them.

Epiphany Moment: I think I just learned the difference between a possibility and a dream.

But I digress. Everyone should have dreams. Big, lofty dreams like becoming the next President of the United States or surpassing Donald Trump in the wealth department (ha! Would'nt that be a kick in the pants). Having big, lofty dreams is nothing to be ashamed of, even when your family and friends scoff and say "Yeah, right. That's never gonna happen." That's where the Possibilities binder comes in handy. Possible, but not too lofty.

I'd like to think that, if I had a binder full of Possibilities, it wouldn't take a momentous event in my life to fufill them.