Last night I watched Berlin, I love you on Netflix. I’ve never visited Berlin but if I do I’m assured that the city will spawn whatever encouragement I need in the form of a talking car, an angel, a taxi driver, a random stranger that will say or do just the right thing to pull me out of my misery and introduce the mystery of life and fill me up with love and belonging. The city is in the background while humans roam around and try to make sense of their lives. But it is the moment they relate, look out for the random stranger that inspired me. I was captured by the diversity of the city and the portrayed openness of its inhabitants. Some of the stories were less interesting than others, and compared to New York, I love you and Paris Je T’aime, it is a different, lighter tune, but overall I liked the movie.
Meanwhile I thought about how I related to the place I live in, and the people I meet. It is a family centered suburban area we live in, on the outskirts of Los Angeles with diverse backgrounds and education oriented families. We hang around the school and the soccer fields mostly. In suburbs we avoid random encounters and live carefully planned lives just like the manicured lawns in each neighborhood around. We don’t do well with chaos that life inevitably throws in our lives on occasion, resent it and put everything back in its place as soon as we can.
Yet, this place is filled with charm and there are surprise encounters. The parks, hiking areas, the greenery, the dogs, the squirrels, the runners and the blue skies are always (almost always, except during fire season) assuring. And I once had an encounter with a falcon who charged at me after looking deeply into my eyes, though I truly felt special during the stare, I later realized that it was its own reflection that mesmerized and offended the falcon so. I merely happened to be on the other side of the window at the right spot. Still it was a special moment, and perhaps a metaphor for relationships.
When I’m running out on the streets is when I feel most seen and belong in this city. Perhaps it is the serotonin, but seeing the smiling faces of dog walkers and fellow runners, and the scenery that changes with the seasons, though not as dramatically as cooler places in north, and being a part of the streets with my body feels truly life enhancing.
The picture above is a piece of sky from my backyard (I saw a rat running across the fence as I was taking it, yikes!).
When do you feel most seen and belong in the city you live in?
