This past week, ABC aired a new episode of October Road (one of my favorite television shows) that I can't get out of my head for various reasons--one of which I want to explore here. The episode, called "Stand Alone by Me" starts with a flashback to 18 years ago, showing five neighborhood boys, all whom were 10 years old, being rescued from neighborhood bullies by Angela Ferilli's sling shot. But the boys didn't care much about the slingshot. What they really cared about was the girl behind it. All five of them had a crush on Angela.
But then her family moved three towns away and after finding out that she has a "boyfriend" in her new hometown, they lose track of her. Fast forward 18 years. One of the five friends, Nick, reads an article in that paper that says Angela died in a car accident and it throws all of them for a loop. After Angela's funeral, as the guys are leaving the cemetery, they figure out that Angela's husband was the same kid she called her boyfriend all those years ago and here's the conversation they have about her and her husband:
"Wow, he was her meant-to-be," Owen said.
"Yeah, we never stood a chance," Nick said.
"Maybe if you think about it, maybe we've been searching for Angela Ferilli our whole lives," Eddie said.
"You think?" Owen said.
"I know I have." Eddie said.
"If you think about it some more, maybe you guys have already found her in what you've got waiting back in the Ridge," Ikey said.
Ikey's words send all of them back home with a mission to repair their broken relationships. These five characters had to experience something drastic and dreadful and heartbreaking to make them see the beauty of the people in front of them.
I'm pretty sure all of us could learn something from that.
