My wife recently wrote in a blog post where she listed a few intentions that she had for the summer. This got me thinking, so I will follow suit and set a few intentions for myself for this coming summer. First up – re-engaging my love of movies.

For a large portion of my life, I have been an avid movie lover. The greatest job I’ve had (to date) was when I worked at a video store when I was in my early adulthood. I watched so many movies! Good or bad, it didn’t matter. I just loved my movies. But as is wont to happen as you grow older, the real world encroaches on your passions and you start to make less and less time for those things that once brought you so much pleasure. (Let’s pause here for a moment to let you take stock and see if/where you’ve done this in your own life. Did you stop and think? Okay, let’s carry on with my story.) For some time now I have had a hankering to watch some classic movies. I realize that there are a number of classic movies that I have not seen in my 40-odd years on this earth. And for a self-professed cinephile, some of these omissions are glaring.

Therefore my first intention for this summer is to watch some good old classic films. I got a jump on this while my wife was away for the weekend with her friends. I got up early on Saturday morning and dove right in. I ended up watching five movies in all. Can you imagine that? Five movies in one day. Sound crazy to you? Sounds like Heaven to me. The only thing that would have made it better was if I had been in a theatre doing it, enjoying some uber-salty popcorn.

I won’t get into the weeds with the movies, but for those keeping score, here was my line-up.

• Movie #1 – Double Indemnity
• Movie #2 – The Third Man
• Movie #3 – Casablanca
• Movie #4 – The Man Who Knew Too Much
• Movie #5 – Strangers on a Train

I can say with certainty that four of the five movies were some that I had never seen before including, incredibly for a movie buff like me, Casablanca. I’m almost ashamed to admit that this was the first time I had ever watched the movie! I’m not 100% certain about The Man Who Knew Too Much – I may have seen it before, but I’m not entirely sure.

This was just what I had needed. I’d been pulling oracle cards in recent days/weeks that kept saying that I needed to retreat, recharge, ground myself. Synchronicities coincided to let me have that time. First, Isabelle had her girls’ weekend, so I was on my own. Second, the weather was cold and dreary. We had rain from Friday night through to Sunday, and temperatures in the low single digits (brrr…) so what better to do than to say inside and watch movies? Thirdly, I happened to notice that Strangers on a Train was playing on TCM (Turner Classic Movies) on Saturday night. This is what sparked the entire movie marathon. I set the PVR to record the movie, and filled in the rest of the day with other classic films.

I have a few other intentions for the summer, but I’ll talk about those another day. In the meantime, I’ll leave you with two questions – one of which you can answer in the comments below, the other is for you to ponder:

1. What classic movie(s) would you recommend for me to watch?
2. What activity or passion that you did when you were younger did you shove off as you grew up, whether consciously or not; and what can you do to reignite that flame and bring back a bit of that passion and joy into your world today?