1Not sure why, but I had a musing to write something concerning La La Land. I doubt that anyone will ever read this, but to those who will, I raise my glass to you.
Quote of the Day:
Laney: When people are in love, they sing duets.
Corey: It's, uh, like a rule.
—Groj Band
Sebastian didn't know why, but as he looked at his wife part of him felt like they belonged to another time and place.
She was standing near the ocean with their son, the two of them now tired and relaxing by the shore. The day had been long, though not long enough years later when he would look back on this moment, and there was something inside of him that stirred when he saw the silhouette of his wife and son canvas against the setting sun of Los Angeles. There was always something beautiful about California, and despite all the troubles and broken dreams that he and Mia had faced in this strange and dreamlike place, California would always be his home. He had left once before when Mia had been given the chance to achieve her dream in France, but Sebastian would be lying if he said that part of him wasn't glad that they were finally back in the place where the two of them had first met.
If Mia was supposed to be believed he had been charming and perhaps even a little bit enchanting with his music the first time that she had ever seen him, until he blew her off after her first words to him had been to compliment his playing. Sebastian supposed that he could laugh about it now since they had found each other in the end, but sometimes he still felt like slapping himself for being such a dick to the woman who would one day be his wife. Somehow everything in his life ended up working out, and although he knew that it was silly, for some reason there was a small part of him that had always felt like the city lights and almost non-existent stars of Los Angeles shined specifically just for Mia and himself.
Almost as if she could tell that he was watching her, Mia turned in that moment to look over at where he had been silently sitting for the past ten minutes or so. Her eyes met his, like they had so many times in the years that he had known her, before Mia began to walk in his direction. As she walked towards him, Mia glanced over at their boy to make sure that he was safe where she had left him. As Sebastian watched, it wasn't hard for him to tell that Mia was torn between either finding her way back to him, or continuing to watch the horizon with her son. He almost laughed, Sebastian being able to do nothing else but smirk when his wife was finally standing before him.
"What are you thinking about?" Mia asked as she sat beside him on the blanket that Sebastian had spent the better part of the afternoon resting on.
Before he answered, Sebastian shot a quick glance over at his wife. Although they have been together for a few years now, having her stand this close to him was still something that he would never get used to. She was the most familiar thing that he had in his life, and yet at the same time she would also always be the world's greatest mystery. Sebastian wondered if that's how all marriages were, or if maybe this was something that was uniquely Mia's.
"Life mostly," Sebastian said after a long moment, as he spun a pencil in his hand that ten years ago would have been a cigarette, "with a little planning here and there."
"I know it's not jazz," Mia replied, eyes never having left her son the moment that she sat down next to Sebastian, "but how does that John Lennon song go?"
Sebastian closed his eyes as he laughed. If there was one thing that he as a married man had come to learn after all these years, it was the fact that more often than not his wife was usually right. John Lennon was no Thelonious Monk, but Sebastian could respect a great musician when he heard one. He knew the song that she was talking about, the song being a favorite of Mia's, and as he looked over at his son sitting by the ocean and watching it intently, Sebastian supposed John Lennon had had the right idea all along.
Twirling his would-be cigarette once again, Sebastian shook his head, the jazz artist knowing that his wife would take this as a victory. "Life is what happens while you're busy making other plans."
This time Mia gave a smirk of her own, the woman knowing what Sebastian would refuse to admit out loud, even if not so deep down he already knew the truth. She nudged her husband in his side, both pairs of eyes still trained on their son. "And what were you planning, Seb?"
it was a long time before Sebastian answered her. He almost didn't know how to put his thoughts into words, but after a moment's reflection Sebastian suppose that it was actually pretty obvious. There was something that he was hoping for when it came to the future of his family, when it came to the future of his son, and as he watched his son and the ocean on the horizon, there was a strange inkling in his soul that told him that perhaps this future wasn't so far-fetched.
As he wrapped his fingers around Mia's, Sebastian couldn't help but wonder about just what it took to breathe life into the quiet hopes that one was afraid to say out loud. "I want him to love music the same way I love it. I want him to love jazz, and be a better musician than I ever could be."
His wife thought for a long moment, before she nodded, Mia never looking away from their son. She agreed with parts of what he said, but at the same time Sebastian could still tell that she disagreed with others. She smiled, her voice almost a whisper.
"He'll find something he loves as much, if not more, than jazz," Mia's words sounding almost like a song, "maybe it will be jazz. Maybe it'll be something else. Whatever it is, he'll be a dreamer one day."
This time, it was Sebastian who nodded. The future was something special, and the world was for their son to take.
"Here's to the fools that dream."
Here's to my first and last La La Land story. Farewell.