hellos and good-byes

I just finished watching a Japanese one-episode deal thing. It is about "graduation" but the English word doesn't quite capture it. It's more like..good-bye...finished, next stage in life...etc. The storyline was rather blah...but it made me think. There's a couple...and the boy is leaving for Africa for two years (he's a photographer). He tells her rather last minute...and she gets very insecure and tells him that she's not up for long-distancing. Later, she discovers a box full of prepaid phone cards and a letter asking her to wait for him for two years. She runs and catches up to him...and to my surprise, tells him she won't wait for him. She tells him that he'll grow mature...and worldly during the two years in Africa. She can't pause her life and wait for him while he experiences life and becomes a newer him. She'll root for his success but she won't wait for him (when my English sounds awkward...it's usually because I'm translating my thoughts from either Korean or my limited Japanese).

I LOVED that. It was really sad but I loved it. It made me think of my life. Every time I am yearning to get of my comfort zone...to experience life and ready to say "good-bye"...there's another "hello" in my life that keeps me back a little. I get closer to friends...my life becomes less bleak. I rather enjoy life in Ann Arbor right now. I'm finally enjoying the people that are in my life. However, I must say good-bye. I can't pause my life. I have to keep going.

I love Ethan Hawke and most movies he's in. This is a quote from Gattaca (1997):

It's funny, you work so hard, you do everything you can to get away from a place, and when you finally get your chance to leave, you find a reason to stay.