Years ago, I saw a Japanese movie about a kind of way station between life and whatever comes after. The newly dead came there to think about and settle on the most beautiful or happy or important moment that they would like to take with them into eternity.
There was a little girl at the station. When she was asked what moment she'd like to have for eternity, she quickly answered Disneyland. Well, the attendants said, why don't you take some more time? It took the girl a while but she finally chose a moment when she was in bed and her mother was nearby and she could see sunlight on the blanket over her. When she chose that one the attendants were ready to let her go.
I don't remember much of the movie, including its title, but I do remember that little girl and the memory she chose. It makes me think of all the movies in which someone is dying or about to die, he or she looks up and the camera pans up to the sky and trees. When everything else is falling away, including life, we see the world, the ordinary beauty that's all around us. It's Tolstoy's honey - we reach for the honey.
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