Ready to watch a movie?

Since Austin has been in Hawaii, Nanny has been “keeping me company” (that’s what she told Austin. God, she’s so cute). I love spending time with her, and even though we live in the same house it doesn’t happen as often as I’d like. I work night shift so unless I have more than three days off in a row I don’t usually “flip” my schedule. We’ve watched a total of three new movies so far, No Hard Feelings, The Little Mermaid (the new live-action) and the most recent one tonight, JoyRide.

No Hard Feelings was hilarious. Jennifer Lawrence is such a good actress. If you’ve not seen commercials for it yet, it’s about this girl who’s life is a mess and she’s trying to save her mother’s house that was left to her. To do that she needs a car (her car was towed and she’s unable to get it? I don’t remember the details). There’s an ad a couple placed on craigslist for someone to bring their shy son out of his shell before he goes to college and the payment is a car. Nanny and I were both in stitches the whole time. But like any good movie it always has a little more to offer than just comedy. Andrew Feldman did a beautiful, slow rendition of Hall and Oates “Maneater” (which I listened to over and over again while driving the Miata lol…made me feel like a bad bitch😅). I’m not gonna give any more away, just watch it. You won’t be disappointed.

The Little Mermaid was so good. I’m not going into details on the description because, it’s The Little Mermaid. I mean come on. The acting was good. Prince Eric singing on the boat made me laugh though not because it was bad, it just felt like too much. (The whole time he was singing I kept thinking about if I were a crew member and the Prince was just out there singing on the bow of the boat, no music, just living his best life while I’m sitting here trying to keep the fucking ship a float. Do your singing else where Eric!) But over all it was a really well made, live-action remake.

JoyRide was tonight’s movie and it was a riot. It’s about a Chinese girl that was adopted to a white family and became friends with the only other Chinese girl in their town. She grows up to become a lawyer and later tries searching for her birth mom while on a work trip to China. Within the first 5 minutes of the movie one of the little girls says “fuck you” to a bully and throat punches him, so yea it was great. There’s sex, drugs and a “pussy tat”. The same goes for this movie too. It has a heartfelt (and funny) ending. It’s a must see.

Before we watched the latest movie Nanny asked me to come sit on the porch in the swing with her. It was getting ready to rain so I got the dogs inside and went to sit with her. As the rain came and went we just sat there talking about anything a nothing. She’d occasionally point out a cloud in the sky that looked like an animal (tonight it was an otter, a bear and a platypus). We sat in silence for a bit. While sitting there I recalled an exercise I did in an English class I took in college. You sit quietly and use all your senses and later write what you see, hear, smell, feel, and/or taste. I’m going to call it painting present senses (I don’t think that’s what this exercise is actually called, I just named it that). Essentially you’re painting a picture with words. So here goes…

I close my eyes to help me focus. I hear the subtle creak of the swing as nanny and I sway back and forth. The crickets and cicadas chirp and the frogs sing their night-time song, in an attempt to lull us to sleep. The air conditioner hums in the background as a dog barks in the distance. An occasional rumble of thunder can be heard. I take in a breath, the smell of rain lingers in the cool air. Fall seeming closer now then it was just a few hours ago. My fingertips brush across the semi-coarse material of the cushion beneath me. I open my eyes and am greeted with a beautiful gray-green view of the mountains in front of us, the fog rolls across the tree tops on to it’s next destination. I look to my right and see my sweet nanny; the years have added more wrinkles to her body and gray to her hair but her heart and soul remain the same. I feel a lump in my throat begin to form as I hold back tears. Taking in a few deep breaths, I’m successful in my attempt to conceal the sudden sadness that came over me. I turn to Nanny and hold out my hand, “Ready to watch a movie?”…

Time is such a precious commodity that we all take for granted, myself included. Everyone is so caught up in the hustle and bustle of every day life most days we forget to be present. One day it’ll just be me sitting on this swing. I’ll look to my right and hold out my hand waiting for Nanny to take it only to be greeted by the bittersweet memories of our time together. Maybe, one day I’ll be sitting on a swing, perhaps with my own grandchildren, and think back to this day with Nanny and tell my grandkids what a special lady she was…

Moral of today’s post:

• Watch the funny movies and laugh

• Be present.

• Don’t take life or people for granted.

• If you’re ever randomly singing on a ship remember, this isn’t a movie there is no music and the crew is definitely judging you

• Don’t do a night shift job unless you hate yourself

• Hydrate before you write anything sad because you will cry, a lot, and get a major headache, and have puffy eyes.

• My posts are like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re gonna get; maybe have tissues ready next time.

• Don’t swallow the lump or suppress the tears, let ‘em flow and tell them how you’re feeling.
  

Thanks for reading. Follow along and grow with me…

-CJ