Tag Archives: family

Review : Everything, Everywhere, All At Once

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I had been hearing about Everything, Everywhere, All at Once for a while. Hailed as Dr strange done right, or a better multi-verse movie I was intrigued. In many ways I have to agree with that assessment. This movie is a spectacle with amazing cinematography, special effects, and an intriguing world building.

But, ultimately, this is the story of one small family trying to find a connection to each other within a chaotic world.

The story is set in a fantastical sci-fi world of split realities, kung fu fighting, and jumping from one point to another. The ending also has an Inception feel where you are wondering what was real, and what wasn’t. But in the end, does it really matter?

The actual story of a mother trying to understand her teenage daughter, and a young adult woman trying to find her place in the world is only enhanced by the splitting of realities. In essence it says that no matter what world you are in, what choices you make, inevitably we will find ourselves at this point. Trying to connect.

Everything, Everywhere, All at Once is a masterfully crafter story. Give yourself a treat and watch it.

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Rising from the darkness

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Today has been a day to recenter myself. I needed to.

And here is where I get a little personal today, and talk about some of the personal things that effect me.

I haven’t had issues with depression in years. Maybe a day here and there where I feel down, need to lay in bed and cry then get up and get back to the grind stone. Not like before. Not like the days when I use to sit in my bathtub praying to a god that wasn’t there that he would just let me die. That sort of desperation, that utter lost feeling that the world was closing in on me and I could not escape it, that I haven’t had in almost a decade. Thankfully.

But I do occasionally have those days where I wake up and it’s just so hard to get out of bed. So hard to turn a light on, or find my clothes. So hard to find that desire to just…move. It would be easy to never leave the house, just be a hermit and never speak to another person outside my home. But I know I’d eventually spiral down into that pit of despair, and drown again.

So when I do have those days now I force myself to get up. Force myself to tell Gregg that I’m having a problem. And like today, I take a mental health break and surround myself with people I love, who love me, and who support me in my dreams. I also missed my girls and spent some time just walking around the mall with them. By the time I got home I was exhausted, but so happy.

This wasn’t an option all those years ago in the bathtub. It wasn’t possible to draw my family to me and focus on their love. I am so, SO, grateful that it is possible to do so today. My daughters are grown, and they understand the darkness that lurks inside of me. My boyfriend has had to deal with it himself, and also understands. I have friends that also have had to deal with it on occasion, and friends who love me regardless.

So if you’re in a dark place, and life is starting to weigh a bit heavy on your shoulders…reach out to someone. Talk to them. Tell them what’s going on inside you. You might not know what to say, the words might be hard to come out, but please…try. It does get better. And depression is a lying bastard.

5min – Day 11 – What a day

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​Yesterday was an interesting day. I had to get up at 8am, get out of bed, and leave for my daughters house in order to avoid being trapped when they painted the stairwell outside my apartment. 

I don’t usually wake up till 11am. I work nights, and stay up till 3 or 4am, so this isn’t a problem. But yesterday, trying to get up that early, really was. I woke up to the alarm just long enough to turn it off. Realized I turned it off instead of hitting snooze and tried to reset it to go off in ten minutes. Woke up at 9:15 from my boyfriend telling me “you’re screwed. It’s after 9, they are probably painting already.”

Thankfully I was able to roll out of bed, throw on some clothes, and stagger down the stairs half asleep before they actually started painting.

I don’t like mornings, if you can’t tell. That’s why I write in the evening, when I’m more awake and my mind is working.

But I managed to have a nice breakfast with my daughter, and went to a little toy shop near my house that was having a big sale. Picked up some new charms for my necklace, and some cute little figurines for my desk. Half inch rubber ducky? Got it! Do I need it? No way, but it makes me smile every time I look at it.

When I finally made it home from work I was so tired. I never got a chance to do my morning pages because I was too busy just trying to stay awake.

Note to apartment complex, not all of us have day jobs. Sigh.

And that’s my five minutes.  

Things that didn’t happen

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Life is filled with firsts. The first kiss, first time riding a bike, first date, first time driving a car. It’s really easy to see those firsts, look back on them and remember them with joy, and sometimes pain.

As I get older I realize there is another part of life. The things we never did, and can never do. Time has passed us by and there is no longer a chance for those things to happen.

Our culture has grown insistent with the idea that “it’s never too late.” And, in a way, they are right. People get married and have children later in life. People start new careers, get collage degrees, or write novels well into their 50’s. For a lot of people there is still time. But that isn’t the case for everyone.

I will never have a picture perfect family consisting of husband, wife, and 2.5 kids living in a little house with a white picket fence, a dog, and a garden out back. It just isn’t in the cards. I had my marriage, I had my children, and I love my children dearly, but that idea of a picture perfect home just wasn’t in the cards for me. My children will never have the dad that comes home from work, gives them piggy back rides, and rough houses on the floor. My children are starting to move out.

Realizing certain things are out of reach for you isn’t a bad thing. Maybe at first it was a little sad for me, and I tried really hard to make up for it. To make my own version of the perfect little family in my own home. For a time I even found something really close, but it wasn’t to be.

With realization came acceptance. And finally it was time to make new dreams. New goals. New achievements in life that I could complete.

Life isn’t a video game. You can’t reload your previous save and try to complete that achievement again. Life is a story unfolding before you, and sometimes paths will break off, and sometimes they will end. Sometimes they will be so far out of your reach that you never even saw the glimmer of hope to achieve them. That just means it’s time to find a new path. A new goal. And strive for something more.

Screw the Circumstances!

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The circumstance dictates that my life should be a failure.

No, wait, I’m not done.

I am 36. Divorced. I have three teenagers. I work a low paying, dead end job with no opportunities for advancement. Two years of college but no degree. Very little job experience. And I’m broken from years of abuse.

Circumstances dictate that I should be a failure. Never get anywhere, never accomplish anything, and die alone. The little old lady with a house full of cats. (Sorry, apartment, I make too little to get a house.) Too many kids, and too much baggage for any sane person to take a chance on.

Well, screw the circumstances!

Your life, and your situation do not dictate who you are, or where you are going, unless you let them. We are not the sum of the experiences we are dealt, rather we are the sum of how we deal with those circumstances.

There have been men who hiked to the top of everest despite not having feet. Women who made families, and raised children despite lack of legs. People who won contest, performed great feats of strength, painted, sculpted, created, and THRIVED despite the circumstances of their life.

What’s your excuse?

I have a lot of circumstances, but they don’t define me. I am using my time, energy, and passion to pursue the one thing that I have always loved, and always wanted to do.
I write.

I am turning my circumstances into useful things. Using the past, the baggage, and the brokenness, as springboards for stories. Using my job as time to think through plots while I sweep floors. Enjoying my family, and building a new life.

Life isn’t always easy. But the truth is… the trees that are sheltered, that never stand up to the winds… those are the weakest trees in the forest.

Don’t let circumstances get you down. Use them. Grow. Stand firm against the wind. Lean on friends and family if you need to, and prune away the rough bits. But above all else, don’t let the circumstances dictate your life.