Ah, Forrest Gump. For years, that famous quote about life being like a box of chocolates felt so true to me. I felt like those words summed up the unpredictability of life fairly well. But, as I have grown older and experienced more in life, I have to say that I now disagree. Also, that quote holds a simile; I am more of a metaphor girl myself.
So no, life is not like a box of chocolates. Life is the smooth chocolate bubbling over the edge of a tiered chocolate fountain. Sometimes that smooth stream is broken by a stray strawberry or wandering hand. But that stream of life is fluid and active; it moves and it changes. Life does not sit still and wait to be opened like a box of chocolates. Life comes at you head-on; it is a staring contest, a battle of wills. Life is not passive chocolate-covered cherries.
Life is pain, heartbreak, broken fingers and toes. Life is soft breathing into the phone at midnight, jumping on a plane because you need a break, getting tattoos because you can. And yes, life is unpredictable. None of us know what it will throw at us next. A promotion, a great love, a deep loss? Psychics will try to predict these fates by tracing the lines in our palms and looking into our hopeful faces, but the truth of the matter is that the chaos that surrounds us, this organized chaos, is unpredictable at its core.
That unpredictability is what makes life so breathtakingly gorgeous, but also, at times, so crushingly devastating. But comparing that unpredictability to a box of chocolates just doesn't feel right to me. Because even when you open that unpredictable box of chocolates, you can still choose which pieces you want to eat. Life is not always like that; life doesn't give us a choice in many matters. If you don't like what you see in your life, you can't just close the box and walk away. You have to deal with what is inside of that box. Even when you don't feel like it, even when you're down on your knees, on the brink of destruction, you have to face your life. I'm sorry, Forrest, but I think your Mama was wrong.
