Recently I watched the 1999 film American Beauty starring Annette Bening and Kevin Spacey. One of the things in the movie that really resinated with me was the character's pursuit of happiness, especially the character of Carolyn Burnham. We see her in intense pursuit of the finest things, expensive things, things she believes will fill her emptiness and make happy. But what we the viewers can plainly see is how empty she remains, how exhausted she is from her pursuit. In contrast, she husband Lester, in almost an act of rebellion against her, begins to pursue the things that he remembers bringing him happiness...as a much younger version of himself. And in the both the waining moments of both Lester's life and the film, her realizes what truely brought him the joy in his life. It didn't have to with the car he drove or the how great his body looked. It was his wife's laugh and his daughter's smile...
I began to think of the simple pleasures for me...an icey Coke from McDonalds, slipping in to freshly washed sheets, watching agreat movie in the theater with a good box of popcorn, the wind blowing fiercely, a good book, a belly laugh that seems to laugh for ever, a compliment, helping someone, tucking my kids into bed and watching them fall asleep, my kid's smiles, the show Friends or thirtysomething, finishing something I thought I couldn't, a fanatastic conversation, music of The Dixie Chicks or Mary Chapin Carpenter, American Idol, a good steak...I'm a simple girl. That's just who I am.
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