i could sit here and write about my thoughts on the finale almost all day, but i know no one would want to read that. in the last six minutes of the show, the characters gave their last interviews of the 'documentary.' it was touching, heartwarming, and super sad. but there was perhaps the line that struck me as a person more than anything else, thanks to the wisdom of andy bernard:
"i wish there was a way to know you are in the good ol' days before you've left them."i sobbed for a second and kicked my husband's leg on the couch. we have had this discussion many, many times i feel like. it's hard to have that level of awareness to know that you are experiencing a moment that will forever be important to you. and i'm not talking about big ones, like the birth of a baby or marrying your love. i mean the little things.
for me, it's the time i spent back in prague. the day philip and i ditched class and spent the day walking through the city, and we bought loose-leaf tea and walked back to my apartment to drink it and talk. it's the day that my two best friends and i took a plane, a bus and a train to meet our three best guy friends in venice, and we walked down the middle of the street with our giant backpacking bags to our hostel, which was actually a b&b super far out of the city. it's the time we threw a party to say goodbye to our friend j's last newport cigarette, because that was all he smoked and you couldn't buy them in prague, and his supply from home was gone.
i can honestly say that i think i have that gift, thanks to my deep-rooted penchant for nostalgia [to a fault sometimes]. the last time our whole crew had dinner before our last night bar-hopping, i had to excuse myself from the table, and parked it on the curb outside the restaurant to cry. i knew that the upcoming goodbye with people who i felt knew me best would be one of the most difficult things i'd ever have to do. i knew what was coming and what i had experienced in the past few months, and i even knew that what i would see in the coming months in prague wouldn't be as perfect.
PI and i discuss this because where i have that ability almost too soon, before the goodbyes even come, his is delayed. very delayed. it wasn't until seven months later that he finally was hit with the fact that we will never go to those same places with those same people, that it would never be the same.
photo from my good ol' days, with my bestest crew, rome 2006. |
after i heard andy's thoughts and sobbed a little more, more poignancy came. the last words of the show, again, seemed to speak to me, especially together with what andy had admitted. pam had the honor of ending the show with:
"there's a lot of beauty in ordinary things. isn't that kind of the point?"as my girlfriend W put it, those words need to be framed on the wall of everyone's home. as a reminder to live in the present, to admire the beauty of mundane moments. because it's there, if you look hard enough.
to hear andy + pam's words for yourself and catch the last few minutes of the office, check out hulu. and grab a box of tissues.
til next time...
Sooo true. Beautifully written. We are in the good ole days...
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