Friday night we watched the movie, The Exotic Marigold Hotel. I have to tell you I loved it. It's a great story with an interesting mix of characters that remind us about hope and new beginnings.  They show us that's it's never too late.  It's never to late to take risks, to travel to far away lands, to learn something new, to try something different, to take stock in ourselves and know that life can be beautiful.  That we will find what we seek when we step out of our comfort zone and take a chance.  Life doesn't promise to be better, or that the grass is greener on the other side, or that it gets easier the longer we live it and we don't always get what we expect. It does show us that we can grow, we can learn, we can laugh, we can help others even when we don't even know it by simply being there.

The story moves quickly and is drenched with vibrancy as it's set in India where the hustle and bustle of life is clearly evident. The characters are developed quickly and just enough to make you feel for them in one way or another. The story follows a group of British retirees who for each of their own reasons decide to "outsource" their retirement to less expensive and seemingly exotic India.  Each of them are enticed by brochures and advertisements to a place called the Marigold Hotel which has promised visions of leisure only to find the hotel but a shell of it's former self.  After some reflection, much like those choosing to retire here. It's through their shared experiences, new friendships and discovering that life and love can begin again, that they are transformed.

If you haven't seen it, you should it's a wonderful movie. It will make you laugh and think and appreciate that life has so much more to offer if you are willing to take a risk. You're never too old for hope and new beginnings.  As I tell my kids each morning, it's a new day to start fresh.

My favorite line and take away for me was, "Everything works out in the end, and if it doesn't, it's not the end."

See, pure hope and continued beginnings.