Its not very often that I identify with characters in television shows, video games, movies, or most any form of entertainment. A part of me, and I’d like to believe that a part of us all, wants to be swept up into a reality far removed from our own. Everyone needs a break from crises, work, and relationships. We take this well deserved break when we become absorbed in a detective drama or a comedic film. The true magic of movies is that they make life seem magical. Somehow everything and everyone is more beautiful and fantastic in CinemaScope. We live vicariously through media. We become the detective, the suspect, or the victim in the film just long enough to help us forget the guy who nearly rear-ended our car on the way to work, or the girl at the coffee shop who threw our latte at us so quickly the cup dropped on the floor and spray-painted our pants.

Is it possible to create our own movie magic in the world? I’d like to think so. Every once and while I find myself driving in my car, listening to a particular song, dwelling on happy or sad feelings and I’ll pause to think, “This moment, right here, right now, is movie magic.” Its a moment where I feel so connected to myself and to the world around me that I imagine anyone looking in on the scene would sense precisely how I am feeling and how beautiful the moment is. There is a soundtrack to each of our lives - a story that if scripted correctly would entertain and inspire any audience. The truth is, we’re all so different from one another that I’m sure we’d find most anyone else’s life fascinating, save our own. It unfortunate that our lives don’t always seem magical while they’re happening. And, whether we like to admit it or not, many of us, the world over, spend most of our time on Earth simply trying to escape life and miss the magic entirely.

Over the course of the past month I became absorbed in the ABC show, “October Road” and for the first time in my life, a piece of fiction made my own life seem magical.

The show is centered around an aspiring author named Nick Garrett, who flees his hometown shortly after the death of his Mother. Garrett, a teenager at the time, supposes that by leaving home he will be able to escape his sorrow and begin anew. Unfortunately, he leaves behind his brother and father, close childhood friends, and a girlfriend. In a sense Nick does escape his past. He grows up, writes a critically acclaimed novel about the people from his hometown, and becomes a New York city socialite. At the pinnacle of his success he is asked to return home to promote his book at the nearby college. Nick is hesitant to do so, but reasons the trip will only last a couple of days. So, he hops in the car and makes the journey home.

For Nick Garrett his return is both a joyous and complicated occasion. His brother, father, and friends greet him with a tremendous amount of enthusiasm. They trade stories, reminisce, and essentially become the family unit they were before Nick left. However, some people in the town are less than happy with the book Nick wrote. The books highlights numerous scandals that occurred in the town during his youth. Ultimately this makes the people in the town feel vulnerable to the outside world, and they aren’t shy about telling Nick how they feel about this. Furthermore, his childhood best friend, Eddie, wants nothing to do with Nick and promptly avoids conversation with him. You learn that Nick and Eddie had planned as teenagers to open a business together called “Best Friend Windows,” and Nick’s departure landed Eddie with a crap landscaping job. Of course, the more interesting and complex relationship involves Nick’s ex-girlfriend. For all intents and purposes, she was ready to marry Nick before he up and left town and never came back. Nick discovers that she is now dating a guy they went to high school with - a bully and a jerk that he despises. Not only that, she has a small boy who’s age is exactly the number of years since Nick left town. (Is the boy his? I won’t tell. You’ll have to watch to find out.) Needless to say, Nick’s journey home becomes an indefinite affair as he tries to recreate the bonds he so forcefully severed and make peace with the people he hurt.

The thing about October Road is that it reminds me a great deal of my youth. I fled my family and my home to find myself in the world. I made a pit stop in Texas and detoured through Colorado. For one reason or another, I believed I could escape who I was, become someone different. I think we’ve all entertained the thought of running away, fleeing the magic of our own lives, unconcerned with the devastation we leave behind. I have friends who have thought about leaving their children. What would it be like to just be responsible for me? I think this question pertains to everyone, not just those with children. Its a lot of work to keep the people around us happy with who we are and what we’re doing. Yes, I believed I could run away. But, I think that in the end we all find out that running away doesn’t really solve our problems, it just creates new ones. Coming home was really the easiest and the hardest part of my life. It was easy because I missed the people I knew and hard because I missed the magic of their lives for years. Its hard to sit around a dinner table and listen to familiar people tell unfamiliar stories of events that happened while you were away, of children growing up, birthdays and weddings, and even, in some cases, death. In a way, I felt as though I hadn’t actually escaped my life - I’d just overshot it by a few thousand miles.

October Road helped me see the magic of my own life because in a sense, it is my own life - though I’ve never lived in Massachusetts and I’m not a man! Its still my story. Its a story of things I’ve done, thoughts I’ve had, and feelings I’ve felt. It helped me see that my own life is the stuff of movies (or television), that there is a magic to my years that no one else can claim but me. It is possible to create our own movie magic. The secret is to keep living.