During times when weather is less than ideal (cold, snowy, raining), and Sally and I have earned the option to choose what we want to do, as opposed to doing what we used to have to do at our jobs, sometimes, we try and find a movie we think might be something we’d like to watch for some entertainment.

A while back we drove to Erie to catch a couple movies, and we’ve driven to the Lakewood Cinema, for others, and have recorded television films that sounded like something we’d enjoy watching. One of those movies was a feel good fictional, story where a dog, voiced by Kevin Costner, narrated the 2019 two-and-a-half-hour film titled, The Art of Racing in the Rain, which also starred Milo Ventimiglia, and Amanda Seyfried.

The movie’s plot centered around the life of Denny, an auto mechanic and race car driver, who once stopped on the side of the road, when he saw a couple selling puppies. Being a bachelor, he wanted some companionship. He chose, what the woman called, “the pick of the litter,” immediately named him Enzo, and the special friendship between man and dog began.

Denny took Enzo almost everywhere he went, (running, working at the garage, the race track), and loved sitting with the dog, watching television, which Enzo had never seen before becoming Denny’s best friend. Enzo loved it when they watched races on TV and the canine learned much from Denny’s talking to him during races. He became knowledgeable in what went into the sport, both the physical and mental part of auto racing. The two friends did almost everything together, they were inseparable, and then she came into their lives.

Denny met Eve. They fell in love. Enzo wasn’t as happy about that as was Denny, as he now had to share Denny, which he didn’t like much at all. Denny and Eve married and soon afterward Zoe arrived. Shortly after her arrival, Eve introduced Zoe to Enzo, telling her he was a special member of the family too. After that, Enzo’s feelings about Eve became warmer and friendlier.

I’m stopping the storyline here, hoping the VFTB whet your appetite to want to watch more. (I think you’ll enjoy it.)

As I always try to do when listening to music, movie dialogue, etc., I listen carefully and see if there is a lyric, or line that might contain a helpful tip on my never ending attempts to be a better person. This movie offered a number of them. Since, we watched it at home, I had pencil and paper ready in case something came up in the film.

The first one that made me grab my note taking supplies and jot it down was one I thought it was great food for thought in so many undertakings we may encounter in life. At one point in the movie, Enzo quoted Denny’s comment, “No race was ever won in the first corner, but many have been lost there.” I’ve listened to sports reporters, and even participants say that you don’t lose a chance to go to the playoffs early in the season, but if you lose game one of the season, and miss the playoffs by one game, that first game was the difference. My interpretation of the movie’s quote is, to play each of life’s “games” hard from start to finish. Everything we undertake needs to be done physically and mentally with the idea of perfection in our execution toward reaching our ultimate goal.

The second quote from the film was another one that Enzo credited Denny with saying which was, “If a driver has the courage to create his own conditions, then the rain is simply rain.” I took this to say that if you prepare thoroughly, going over as many scenarios that could happen during whatever you are doing, then you’ll be ready for anything that might happen, and you’ll be prepared to overcome it, and keep on toward a successful completion.

The third lesson I got from this movie was from a quote by Kitch, a racing friend of Denny’s, who, when Denny was offered a chance to better his career, having to take a risk to do it, told him, “There is no dishonor in losing the race. There’s only dishonor is not racing because you’re afraid to lose.” There is no life without risk, there is only existence.

My immediate interpretation of this one, mirrors another saying I included in many arenas in my past, which said, “Failing is not the worst thing in the world. The worst thing is failing to try.” In baseball we’d often say, “You’ll never steal second base, if you keep your foot on first.”

These are my interpretations, and part of what I hope I can heed in my life. I hope a saying, quote, lyric, or the like from any genre, gives you a pinch in something you’re watching, reading, or listening to, that helps you along your journeys, too.