Here On Earth Essay, Research Paper

Here On Earth and Where The Heart Is

Here On Earth is my favorite movie. One reason is that the events and the characters are so much like my life and friends when I was in high school. In the movie, Samantha falls in love with Kelley who is a very rich boy enrolled in a private school a few miles outside of the small town she lives in. She meets him on her graduation night when Kelley along with a couple of his friends decides to take his new Mercedes that his dad sent him as a graduation gift out for a joyride. They decide to ride into town and eat at a small diner that Samantha s family owns. They soon find out that they are not welcome there by Jasper, Samantha s long time and devoted boyfriend since they were kids. After a fight turns into a chicken race, their cars crash into the gas station, which is connected to the diner, and the entire place burns to the ground. After going to court both Kelley and Jasper are sentenced to work with the local construction company by rebuilding the diner. Because Kelley is from out of town and his license and car were taken away he had nowhere to stay. Jasper had a very loving and caring family and offers to let Kelley stay in their guest bedroom. I guess you could say this created a few problems for Jasper that totally despised the richies from private school . While Samantha and Jasper spent their time together Kelley observed them from a distance having no idea that Samantha was watching him also. Samantha soon realizes the kind of love she has been missing out on by hiding behind someone that is comfortable and safe. Kelley and Samantha spend many wonderful days and nights together, but all in secret, until the work on the diner was complete. Samantha had finally found the one . She had found the one soul that understood her soul. They read poetry to each other, watched the same falls together that they both shared as their favorite place here on Earth. But most of all, they shared a bond that would never be broken, not even in death. Samantha starts to grow sick and tells Kelley the truth about her having terminal cancer. This also brings out the truth to Jasper about the secret affair her and Kelley were having. Kelley leaves her at the hospital and he didn t plan on ever coming back. The only two women that he had ever loved were both dead to him. His mother committed suicide when he was only nine years old and now his beloved Samantha was going to leave him to. Jasper comforts her, despite of his pain, by never leaving her side during her final days. When Samantha thought she would never see Kelley again he returned to their small town during the celebration of the opening of the new diner. He carries her into the diner in front of the entire town and joins the crowd of people signing the new lover s wall . Samantha dies shortly after Kelley s return. Samantha and Kelley had found a love at only 18 that some people don t find in an entire lifetime. Although she would no longer be with him physically, she would always be waiting for him at the falls.

Samantha is so much like me. She s very strong willed with a big heart and big dreams. In high school I explored every activity and sport that I could fit into my schedule. I was a cheerleader all through school but I was also in the National Honor Society and Tri-M Music Honor Society. I didn t let anyone put one certain title on me because I didn t limit myself to just one. I held many titles, in which I was all very proud of. Although I don t have any terminal ill diseases, thank goodness, a lot of what Samantha went through in the movie, I went through when I was a teenager.

I started dating Brion when I was only 13 years old. He was my best friend. We did absolutely everything together. We dated until I was 17 years old. He was the only boyfriend I had in school. When I was younger, I always thought we were going to get married. I couldn t imagine my life with anyone else. Just like my sister s I wanted to marry the first and only guy I had ever been with, wow what a naive thought. But, at the time that just seemed like what I was supposed to do. It s so funny to look back now and think of how different we were from each other. He was a hunter; I am against killing animals for game. He didn t like poetry and had never picked up a book a day in his life. I loved to write poetry and I would read every good book I could get my hands on. Brion began to really change towards the end of high school. He started to drink a lot, which he knew devastated me. I had seen my brother almost break up his family because of his drinking and I wanted to stay as far away from that type of life that I possibly could. As we started to grow more and more apart I realized how foolish all of my plans had been. I was selling myself short of my dreams. I was a strong believer in experiencing life to it s fullest and that s exactly what I wasn t doing. Brion and I broke up soon after that. I started to get closer to one of Brion s good friends named Tommy. The more time I spent with him the more I wished so much that he was my boyfriend. We loved all the same things and shared a lot of the same dreams. Looking back now, I can t believe I even pursued him. He was a close friend to Brion and to make matters worse he had just broken up with my best friend. They didn t have anything serious and only dated for about a month but that didn t stop her from still being head over heels for him.

I remember the first time we ever went on a date like it was yesterday. The funny this is that it wasn t a date with each other. My friend from work wanted me to set her up with Tommy because everyone had noticed how close we had gotten here lately so she thought what better person to set her up then his best girl friend . I called him and set up the date. He brought along his cousin and we doubled. It was weird because he looked just as miserable as I did. I later found out that he was. He slipped a note into my locker telling me how much he cared for me and that he only went on the double date because he knew he would get a chance to spend some time with me. See Tommy knew just as much as I did what the news of our feelings for each other would do to our friendships. So we did what any other kid would do in this situation, we dated anyway, but kept it quiet. For as long as I live I ll never forget the feeling of excitement and rush of adrenaline that I felt every time we met in secret. Our relationship finally came out when my ex-boyfriend Brion decided he wanted me back. I finally admitted to myself and to the world that I was in love with Tommy and that I didn t want it to be a secret anymore. Brion was so upset and would barely speak to me. My relationship with my best friend changed. We still spent a lot of time together but she kept an emotional distance. I guess I can t blame her for feeling that way. When you re in high school everything seems so big and overwhelming. Tommy and I become the talk of the school. We were your average cheerleader meets the captain of the football team but now with all the drama. Everyone talked about how I had betrayed my best friend and my ex-boyfriend. But of course, what Tommy had done to Brion was cool. What I had done was definitely un-cool. At least that s what everyone else thought. Isn t that your typical double standard? Despite everything that happened, we managed to stay together for a little over two years. He loved my poetry and we could talk on the phone for hours about any thing at all. He seemed to me like the one . Maybe if my life would have ended at a young age like Samantha s did in the movie I would have went on believing that even after death. But, now that I m an older I see how differently we can be just a few years out of high school. I m just not the same person I was when I was 17 that I am now at 21. I ve grown up a lot, but I m well aware that I have a lot more growing up to do. We both began to change when we started college. He did a lot of things that hurt me yet opened my eyes to how different we really were. I needed those years together to see how much we were both changing into completely different people. Maybe if Samantha hadn t died of cancer, they two would have gone their separate ways. There are the few people that are together at a young age and still have a wonderful relationship many years later. I just wasn t one of them. Although our relationship ended with some pain, I ll never regret the way being with him made me feel when I was 18.

The second movie I watched was called Where The Heart Is. I loved this movie. It really doesn t relate to my life but I definitely know if I was ever in the same situation as the girl in the movie, I hope I would be as strong as her. Nobilee was only fifteen and pregnant. She lived in a trailer located in a small town with her boyfriend. Her mother had left her when she was young and she had been in and out of foster homes ever since. She met a guy that was really horrible to her but he was the only family she had. He decides that he s going to move her and the baby away so he could become a country singer. They were both very poor and Nobilee begged him to stop at Wal-mart so she could buy some shoes. When she gets back to the car he had left her. She was in a strange town with no way to get anywhere. She went back into Wal-mart and stayed in the bathroom crying. Eventually they close down the store while she s in the bathroom and they end up locking her in. She realizes that she s stuck and decides to make the best of it. One night turns into 6 weeks. She hid at night and made a record of everything she used so she could eventually pay Wal-mart back for what she owed them. She goes into labor one night then wakes up in the hospital. She had tons of letters and flowers. Every news channel was there to see the Wal-mart baby . With no place to go, a woman offers her a place to stay. Her name was Wilma. She becomes her family. Nobilee beat all the odds against her and became a well-known photographer. A tornado came through one day and destroyed everything in its way, including her home and the only mother she had ever known. In Wilma s will she leaves Nobilee all of her land and a lot of stocks and bonds. Nobilee uses the money and builds a beautiful home for herself and her daughter. By this time Nobilee was only 20 years old. She was one of the most courageous and amazing people I have ever seen. I admire her so much. I remember how hard being a teenager was when I was 15. I couldn t imagine being pregnant alone and completely broke all on top of that. Whenever things get tough or I feel overwhelmed with things in my life, I think of her. She reminds me that anything is possible.