Throwing Away a Magical Life

Today on my episode of The Elephant Princess, Alex signs away all her rights to being princess of the magical alternate universe of Manjipoor.  She gives up her teleporting elephant, her princess position, and her servant...who also happens to be her best friend. She gives it all up so she can have a normal life.  AND...she never wanted the magical life. It took an episode or two for her to warm up to the idea that she was a princess and had magical powers.

Then this afternoon we watched Doctor Who. Amy and Rory are living two lives now— a normal one and one that takes them on adventures throughout space and time. They start thinking that maybe they want to give up the adventurous life and just be normal.

I thought about the similarities of the themes between these two episodes. At first, I thought, what the hell is wrong with these characters?  Who wouldn't want wild adventure, magic, and a huge sense of importance?  Why would anyone want to return to the mundane?  I wouldn't!

Or would I? I started wondering.  I've never had any big wild adventures. I haven't discovered I'm a witch or wizard. I haven't been asked to travel with a time traveling alien.  I haven't become friends with a family of vampires, and nor have I fought against zombies in an apocalypse.

My adventures are fairly mild, and usually in the form of travel. Going to Australia is my adventure. Disney World. Road trips. Family get-togethers at the lake house.  I love all that stuff. Sometimes I feel life is about waiting for those things to happen. But then when they are happening; when they come to an end; I often look forward to returning to my normal life.

The truth is I'm a total homebody. I think I prefer vicarious adventure through reading and television. I like watching other people go on adventures.

Then again, I might be that way because of my dreams. They're very vivid and adventurous.  So maybe in some ways, I'm like Amy and Rory. Maybe my dreams are like the Tardis...or Alex's elephant. They transport me to my own little magical adventure zone.

Yeah. I like that idea. Then it makes me the person who DOES choose the magical adventure life. Otherwise, I kind of feel lazy and pathetic.

Anyway...Alex's choice to be normal isn't going to stick.  There's a whole other season, and a few episodes left of this season. I seriously doubt the rest of the show is going to be about Alex-the-girl-who-could-have-been-a-magical-princess-but-now-she's-just-a-high-school-student.

And on Doctor Who, in the end of the episode, Amy and Rory decided they wanted to keep going on Tardis adventures, after all.  Knowing what's going to happen to them in the next episode...well, they might have been better off staying home.

What about you? Assuming you're not one of the Doctor's companions or a wizard at Hogwarts, are you satisfied with your life? Do you wish you had magic? More adventures?  Do you feel your life is important? Or do you often feel like it's meaningless?

What would our world be like if we
knew for sure there 
was life after death, and 
we could easily talk to our 
dearly-departed on the Internet?

The Dead are Online a novel by Dina Roberts 



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