I found myself at the Orange County fair again, this time with my friend and sister Stacy. I said it’s always a good time with this lady in my 4th of July article and it’s funny that that’s the theme of the fair this year. Her kind words were the best part and we hadn’t even made it to the parking lot yet. I briefly spoke of taking my father to lunch for his birthday this week and she was taken aback a bit as I’ve never mentioned him before. After giving her the back story of my parents divorce and growing up with visitations and whatnot, I mentioned how my brother stayed close with our father but I was pretty much raised by my step dad so he’s all I really knew.
I went on to tell her that at this juncture in my life I’m just trying to be a good human and salvage what relationship I could with the only immediate living family I have left. My father is it, and I’m the end of the line for the Parkers as he was an only child and my brother didn’t have any children before leaving this planet. She went on to say that I don’t need to try to be a good human, I already am with a beautiful heart. She mentioned how much she’s seen me grow in the short time we’ve known each other and even more so how much we’ve grown together. I attended celebrate recovery with her on a handful of Friday nights before I landed the weekend job on the pier, she too is a former alchy and partier.
She went on to compliment me on how while she’s taking these classes to hep discover herself to realize why she does the things she does or did, somehow I just know. And somehow throughout all the betrayal and loss I’ve experienced, especially in such a short period of time, I never let it get the best of me or bring me down. I’ve also heard someone tell me my heart has never hardened and in fact has done the opposite for me and has made me more open to forgiveness which shows a tremendous amount of strength. She admires how I have so much faith and trust in the Lord, so much trust in knowing I’m being guided by something so much bigger than me. It was loving and it was kind and it brought me to tears. Without further ado here are some photos, things that made me laugh and takeaways from Spirit of my second time around at the OC fair this year.
Stacy for the GOLD…
Where did Washington keep his armies?
In his sleevies! Haha the only thing I learned in 8th grade History!
The Painted Veil made its way to my screen and what a beautiful movie this turned out to be. I liked it the first time around Saturday night, so much so I watched it again last night only to find myself wanting to see it again today. It’s a movie about love and betrayal and falling in love all over again, if not for the first time or at the very least finding a friend. It’s about resentment and discovery and most importantly…forgiveness. There’s so much to be learned from this outstanding cinematic perfection. There’s a song at the end that plays during a powerfully emotional scene, I felt the pain in that moment and perhaps it’s just another part of my healing process. It is a song that I now like to meditate to, it plays on repeat till I see fit.
There’s something about the softness of this song that soothes me. It brings comfort to me in ways I can’t explain, perhaps it’s the innocence of the child singing. I don’t even need to know the words they sing in French, the fact that I don’t know what they’re singing makes it even better. I find it to be simply magical and for that I say thank you.
The movie also points out how different our cultures truly are, especially when it comes to the death of our loved ones and how important it is to respect that. This movie called for drastic measures due to drastic circumstances but at the end of the day we need to respect one another on a fundamental level. We are all very similar yet so different all at the same time and this movie points that out as well.
Speaking of drastic though, I do believe it’s Tibet, or maybe a small village somewhere in that region that feeds the dead bodies of their loved ones to the vultures. That’s taking ‘our bodies are just the vessels that contain our souls’ to a whole new level. I don’t know if I could do that but I suppose when that’s what you’re brought up with, it’s simply the norm.
The Painted Veil, what a fantastic movie. A movie of raw emotions, here’s a link to watch it.
https://youtu.be/p8gnWo6gtQk?si=56-oq99PBS7EG8vw
Fun facts about butterflies, they are the #2 pollinators, after bees of course and they taste with their feet.
“when love and duty are one, then grace is within you”
Love and Light