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I’ll skip going over the first 15 minutes of the movie in which we see Carl Fredricksen meet Ellie in the early stages of his childhood and watch the two bond over their love for adventure. That bond turns into a happy marriage that runs for an undefined amount of time (I’m going to say around 60 years).
It’s the most sincere form of true love you’ll ever see in a children’s animated film. There’s highs, lows, joy, heartbreak, and everything else that comes with a long-term union between two people.
They started a money jar to save up funds for a trip to Paradise Falls that they have dreamed about since their childhoods, but life continues to get in the way of their savings. By the time they finally meet the desired number, Ellie is in the hospital and eventually passes away. It’s heartbreaking to watch it play out and you’d be hard pressed to tell me any differently.

Along Main Street
Soon after her passing, Carl attaches a bunch of balloons to the house he and his wife built together and floats to Paradise Falls (it is a kid’s movie, after all). He is unexpectedly accompanied by Russell, a Wilderness Explorer attempting to secure his Assisting The Elderly badge.
The two are whisked into the middle of a phantasmic world with talking dogs, brightly-colored snipes, and Charles Muntz, the explorer that Carl idolized as a child but quickly learns is trying to hunt down Kevin, a snipe that Carl and Russell have befriended. You’ll have to watch the movie if you want to know more about the twists and turns.
However, the motto that is used countless times and embodies the entire film is, “Adventure is out there.”
While we are all confined to our respective homes – or at least should be – it’s easy to dream of the adventures that could be going on in the sports world right now had life as we know it not have taken a severe left turn.
The Dallas Stars would have played their 73rd game of the 2019-20 season last night against the Los Angeles Kings at American Airlines Center. It’s the seventh Stars game that has now been postponed by the season pause. Would they have broken their six-game losing streak (0-4-2) by now? Might they even be on a winning streak with four of their seven would-be opponents (Florida, San Jose, Arizona, and Los Angeles) currently sitting outside the playoff picture?
Could they be back in the running for second or first place in the Central Division, or would they have fallen back into the wild card race? Would their offense be clicking again?
There’s a lot of different storylines that we could be following and reporting on at this very moment. The adventures that would be taking place are fun to dream on, sure.
That’s why it is all the more important to continue doing your part in this previously uncharted time.
Adventure is out there, and there isn’t a one of us in the sports community that can’t wait for it to return. The unpredictability, the impressive athletic feats, the perseverance, the storylines, the emotions, the mountains and valleys that come with each season; it’s all being missed right now.
But in order for that adventure to return, it’s going to take a little bit of muscle from everyone. If everyone does their part and chips in as they’re supposed to, we might be closer to the end of this pandemic than we think. But you must do your part in order for that to have a chance of happening.