At the risk of turning this into a movie blog, I want to mention another movie relevant to my trip: Up, the latest masterpiece from Pixar. The adverts tell you the basic premise: a brusque old man launches his house into the air with balloons, and with an earnest young tag-along, has a great adventure.
But like any Pixar feature, there’s much more to the story than the plot summary. You see, Carl Fredricksen wasn’t always a solitary old man; he had a childhood friend who became his soulmate Ellie, and together they dreamed of the adventure they would have together. But the unavoidable complications of life got in the way, and then the unavoidable complication of her death did. If you and the person you love are still together, this movie is a reminder not to put things off so long that you don’t get a chance to do them together; for others (like me) for whom that’s too late, it’s an encouragement not to let that loss stop you from doing it anyway.
But again, there’s another level to the story. In the end Carl needs to let Ellie and their dream go, and begin his own adventure. Without her. I’m trying to do that. I’m sure Andy would have loved scootering around Lake Michigan with me, and I wish to God we could take the trip together. Or even just sit together on our (perfectly stationary) front porch. But we can’t. So what do I do now? I don’t know. But maybe a scoot by myself around Lake Michigan is part of it.