August Rush

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