People Are Smiling

The sun's setting.

It's about 4:30.

The wind is biting, bracing though the sun warms the backs of the people with a reassuring smile.

The people are smiling.

And how could they not?

They are stood on a hill, the grounds of the Piazzale Michelangelo.

Google that. Do it. 

Seriously....

The acoustic tones of a man and his guitar drift across the hill.

People pose for pictures. Couples kiss and smile, a memory being captured forever.

It is a Monday afternoon that will stay in their minds for all eternity, and mine too.

Ponte Vecchio, Santa Maria Novella, Piazza della Signoria.

The names are romantic, they are romantic.

Like a kid in a sweet shop I wandered the streets of Florence, gawping.

And then it got to 4:30 on top of the Piazzale Michelangelo. 

After my MK car park rooftop scene I mentioned before, here's my plan:.....

I tell her I love her.

We go home and I kiss her goodnight.

In the morning she wakes up and I'm not there.

She comes down stairs and finds an envelope on the table addressed to her.

She looks inside and there's a note that tells her to meet me at Bella Italia for dinner later.

We share dinner together and there I tell her to pack a bag and to be ready to leave early in the morning.

She's ready and I drive her to the airport where we catch a flight to Florence.

We tour it, doing the usual tourist things.

I take her up to the Piazzale Michelangelo. It's getting dark. It's deserted, save for a man in an apron, a table, some candles and some wine.

She takes a seat at the table.

Over the breeze she hears the strains of a guitar as it comes closer, playing her favourite song.

We gaze at the beauty of Firenze at night. I gaze at the beauty of her.

She smiles and I ask her to marry me.

I'm a soppy one I know.

A fantasist, but reality isn't something many enjoy.

Why not dream if you can?

Why not dream if you can't?

Today was no dream though.

Today I felt the wind on my face and the sun on my back.

I smiled without meaning to smile.

I saw a view I'd always dreamed of, and I didn't wake up.

I want to share this with someone.

I want to be one of those couples that smiled and kissed for the cameras.

One's eyes cannot divulge it all by themselves.

It needs sharing.

The sun set and it was perfect. 

Buongiorno Principessa

I love films.

I can sit for hours and hours and just be caught up in the emotions of a story played before my eyes.

They offer the sweetest escape. For 2 hours you're with Al Pacino in Miami, Julie Andrews in Oz, Dev Patel in Delhi, Russell Crowe in ancient Rome or Adrien Brody in war-torn Warsaw. 

For 2 hours you are part of their world.

So much is to be learnt from films too. The Godfather taught me family ethics, Pinocchio taught me that dreams do come true, Bad boys taught me how to swear and Pearl Harbor taught me bros before hoes always.

I always um and ahh when people ask me what my favourite film is and I never know how to answer.

I am Legend is the most beautiful film one can ever watch. (Yes, truly.) And if you don't cry when Sam dies you aren't human. So I am Legend always ends up being my choice.

But in the back of my mind, I know that I cannot pick just one film. 

Recently one film has taught me more than any other film I have ever watched.

It also happens to be among my very favourites;

La Vita e Bella.

Life is beautiful.

An Italian film many of you will not have heard of, but one all of you must watch.

I can watch it over and over and over again.

This isn't a film review or a plot synopsis or anything of the sort, just watch it.

But it has taught me that life is beautiful.

The true meaning of Yolo.

So this is my question.....

Why stress about school and work and relationships,

Why cry over spilt milk and broken hearts,

Why sink into the dark depths of depression when you could die tomorrow?

I am guilty of two of three questions, but La Vita e Bella has taught me different.

You could die tomorrow.

So why not make the most of what you have? Why not do the things you have always dreamed of?
In one week I am flying out to Florence in Italy, a place I have dreamed of visiting since I was a little boy.

A city of romance and culture and gastronomical heaven. A place of beauty. A place I know I will fall in love with.

I am living out my dream because I could die on my 18th birthday and never having been to the place I have dreamed of my whole life.

It will be worth every second.

I could die tomorrow, so last night I told the girl I like that I like her. To her face.

She could have shot me down in flames. She could have laughed at me, embarrassed me, mocked me in front of my friends.

But I have but one life.

I could have stayed shy about it, forever putting it off in fear that she would indeed laugh at me.

I could have lived my life forever regretting not taking her into the kitchen, hands shaking with nerves, drawing a deep breath and saying "I think I'm really starting to like you"

How cruel to be on my deathbed at 85 and a friend takes my hand and says:
"She liked you too Joshy, but she was too scared to tell you, just like you were too scared to tell her."

How cruel.

But I told her and it went just perfectly.

I am living my life because there is only one of them.

If there was one chocolate bar left in the whole world you wouldn't waste it would you?
You would savour every bite, committing it to memory for the rest of your life.

It's the same principle. There is only one life left of yours.

Savour it, commit it all to memory.

If you have always wanted to go to Australia, then do it!
If you've always wanted to become a doctor then do it!
If you have always dreamed of things, imagined your life differently, smiling with a sad knowledge that you are so far from your dreams, then get up and make your dreams a reality.

There is no point in stressing over exams when all they really do is get you to the next level.

They get you to the next level so you can work.

Work to what?
Work to live.

But waking up, driving to work, doing a 9-5 shift in an office, driving home, eating dinner, watching eastenders, then going to bed, that is not living. That is existing.

Live because life is a beautiful thing that doesn't come around again.

La Vita e Bella