Just
like many others, I collect magnets as memorabilia of places I have traveled to.
Unlike
many others, they do not sit on my refrigerator in the corner of the kitchen,
but jump out at me from a 35 year old steel cupboard which has traveled places with
me as well!
A constant
reminder of the fun days, some short stays! But all brimming with a story to
tell!
One
such prized possession is a magnet I picked up in a small town in Iowa. For
some reason my eyes have been drawn to this magnet over the past few months.
The Bridges
of Madison County. A book I had read several years before I visited the
bridges, but which had made a mark on me!
I had
read it when I believed love was for fools and only for the young.
And who
could imagine someone over 40 falling in love and having a 4 day passionate
affair!
To prudish
me, that was a tad bit disgusting and unbelievable! Must have been lust, its adultery! my mind
shouted!
It was
sheer luck that we lived not far from such a historic location made famous only
by Clint Eastwood and Meryl Streep and as
the birth place of John Wayne!
My then
husband was not a big fan of planning and travel- he left it all to me to
decide where I wanted to go and when I wanted to travel! He was happy to
accompany me!
With friends
visiting from out of town, it seemed like a nice day trip to get to see and
experience the 4 days of passion Francesca and Robert Kincaid had. Was it for
real?
I
borrowed the movie, from our local library and watched it before we visited the
bridges.
Yes,
the movie, made it seem real, but to me, it still seemed unacceptable behavior!
We visited
the quaint little Winterset town in the Spring of 2002! I could imagine Clint Eastwood and Francesca
walking along those pretty lanes.
Such a picturesque
all-American town.
“The road is a strange place.
Shuffling along, I looked up and you were there walking across the grass toward
my truck on an August day. In retrospect, it seems inevitable - it could not
have been any other way-- a case of what I call the high probability of the
improbable”
The bridges
each had a story to tell- my favorite being Roseman covered bridge, where
Francesca leaves a letter for Robert Kincaid inviting him home for dinner!
I loved
them all- walked around, touching, feeling, wondering!! Far away from the
crowded city life, they lived a peaceful life which we now yearn for.
The 4
days defined the rest of their lives! Did she give up on her family and forget
her responsibilities as a mother and wife to leave town with the man who stole
her heart and taught her what passion truly meant!
She had
come with hopes and aspirations and dreams to be married to a handsome soldier only to
restrict her free spirit and live a life
of quiet submission!
Unlike
her, Robert Kincaid was well traveled, he had “seen the world” . A Free Bird! He
meets a regular farmer's wife, but for him too, the next 4 days were
unforgettable!
“Like
two solitary birds flying the great prairies by celestial reckoning, all of
these years and lifetimes we have been moving toward one another.”
Serendipity!! It was bound to
happen! They both realized life never would give them a second chance and they
grabbed it with both hands knowing fully well, there was no future! They felt no wrong, but for Ms.Morality, me,
that seemed so wrong!!
“The
human heart has a way of making itself large again even after it's been broken
into a million pieces.”
I had loved, lost and was slowly
learning to live again.
With age came wisdom and a change in
the way I defined romance! Along with family, kids, responsibilities, dawns a deeper understanding, the lips speak more
through the words than with a sensual kiss! Yes, the hormones still do cause the heart to skip a beat,
yes, a bike ride can still cause the heart to flutter, yes, a sudden weakness in
the bones which causes you to turn to mush, the soft glow in the eyes, seeing
the one you want, all these and more are still felt! A true connect of mind and spirit and heart
and body!
“Francesca was feeling good feelings,
old feelings, poetry and music feelings.”
What would
you have done, being in Francesca’s shoes-
Mere
humans that we are, we always want more! Never satisfied with what we have,
always seeking completeness, the missing link in the puzzle called life!
Searching for a perfection which never
exists!
What would
you do, given a chance like what Francesca and Robert had? Would you have left it all behind and run away
to a life of passion and love and Dreams or take the chance to spend 4 days filling your heart and soul to live the rest
of your life with those memories?
“In
four days, he gave me a lifetime, a universe, and made the separate parts of me
into whole. I have never stopped thinking of him, not for a moment. Even when
he was not in my conscious mind, I could feel him somewhere, always he was
there”
All
quotes courtesy, Robert James Waller- The Bridges of Madison County
