A few years ago I watched a television interview with Kevin Spacey, one of my favorite actors. He has a quiet charm that I find very appealing. Plus, he seems pretty smart and I think this helps make him a believable actor. I liked his performance best in the 1999 Oscar winning film, American Beauty. I especially loved it when his character, Lester Burnham, delivered the line, “I’m just an ordinary guy who has nothing left to lose.”
Really, haven’t we ALL felt like this before? And while I know it’s only a line from a character in a movie, I bet Spacey understands this sentiment. But, as usual, I digress. Back to his interview.
In it, Spacey talked about a trip he had taken to Paris or the Great Wall in China, you know, someplace beautiful and historic like that. Anyway, he talks about feeling bad for people who travel to these magnificent sites but are so worried about taking a photo to remember the place or moment that they generally miss experiencing it. He believed that we want so badly to capture these moments in photos that we end up letting them pass us by. His advice was to just put down the camera and live in and enjoy the moments as they happen.
This is great advice I often try to follow. I have repeatedly used my self-coined phrase, “Kevin Spacey moment,” to remind me to live in the now. Be there. Enjoy the present. Plus, it makes me feel better when I don’t have my camera with me 🙂
Our lunch this past weekend qualified as a “Kevin Spacey moment.” Stacy, the best man from Dan and my wedding, surprised us with a quick visit while he was in town from Indianapolis. The last time we had seen Stacy was when Dan and I went to visit him and his family (and see Dan’s favorite, Bruce Springsteen!) in March 2008. But this last weekend, not only did we get to see Stacy, we got to see his wife, Heather, and their son, Kieran. I would have loved to have taken a photo to remember their surprise visit, but oops, as usual, no camera.
Instead I savored our time together talking, laughing, and taking plenty of mental pictures. We had a great visit which alas, will be remembered as another “Kevin Spacey moment.”
So the next time you forget your camera or your batteries aren’t charged, remember Kevin Spacey’s words to live in and enjoy the moments as they happen … and this is great advice to follow even when you have a camera with fully charged batteries.
Great advice. I think that is so important to savor the moment.
I had one of those moments this weekend when Jeremy was visiting me. We went to the Columbus Zoo and my camera batteries died…so I threw it in my purse and enjoyed the rest of the time I had to visit with Jer.