it's not life that matters but the journey...

Thanks to a post on Facebook the other day by orygun_forest, I was inspired to start watching the great '90s tv show Northern Exposure all over again. Of course I was in love with this show back in the day, and I've been meaning to go back and watch it again - just haven't had the time. Now I've got nothing but time. This week I'm being completely unproductive. I've cleaned my apartment a bit, packed a few more things, done some yoga... but otherwise I'm just watching shows and being lazy. Is that wrong? I feel guilty sometimes that I"m not out there looking for work, but to be honest, I can't really do that now. I need to wait until I'm settled in Port Angeles - then I can look for things to do that will hopefully earn me some money. Now I'm just being introspective and lazy.

Anyway - back to Northern Exposure. It is such a gem of a show. Not only was it well acted, and well written, but it was full of humor and wisdom that you just can't find on any shows that are being made today. One of my favorite characters (for many reasons) was Chris, the radio Deejay, who was not only gorgeous, but also incredibly intellectual and deep - always spouting poetry and philosophy with his sexy voice. In the third episode of season 1, he has a conversation with Joel about Joel's dilemma whether he should stay in Alaska, or return to New York City and break his contract. If you haven't seen the show and don't know the premise, then you might want to read up on Wikipedia or something... basically Joel's a big city doctor who is sent to a small Alaskan town (very small, population 850) to practice medicine. Here's the description of Joel's character on Wikipedia: "Joel is a Jewish physician and the proverbial fish out of water from New York City, fresh out of family medicine residency, he arrives in the remote Alaskan town of Cicely, contractually bound to practice for four years to repay a student loan from the state of Alaska." Joel is basically stuck, and he wants out. But he's starting to develop a conscience, even by the third episode, and realizes that he should probably honor his contract. Chris, always full of great wisdom, says this to Joel:

If you're here for 4 more years, or 4 more weeks, you're here right now.
I think that when you're somewhere, you ought to be there because it's not about how long you stay in a place, it's about what you do while you're there -- and when you go is that place any better for your having been there.

I find that quote very apropos to my situation right now. However, I think that as for my time in Seattle, I don't think I'm doing much for making the place better. I tried. My husband tried. We didn't succeed. We might have made ourselves better and stronger through the experience and the hardship - but did we make Seattle better? Any lives around us? I don't know... But I know I will take this philosophy to heart when I get to Port Angeles. I lived that way when I was in Japan too. Overall, it's a great philosophy for life - while we're here on this Earth, we need to BE HERE. We need to think about what we can do to make not only our lives better, but the lives, and the environment, around us.

Great words from a great show!