Hello My Name is Doris

 Six years ago I went to see this movie with my Aunt Margie.  And I remember laughing, chuckling, giggling through the whole movie.  Today I discovered it on HULU and so I watched it today.  And isn't it a strange how your viewpoint of a movie depends on your own place in the world?? 

I didn't laugh so much and felt more empathetic about the overall theme of the movie.  I ~so~ wanted laugh through the movie.  I think because I've felt the pressures of the possibility of having to move that I could relate to Doris when her brother was trying to "help" her get rid of things in her house.  She told them "No!  No! NoNoNoNoNoNo! NO!!!!!" That everything had some kind of sentimental value and she didn't want to move!  

Yeah.  I've been feeling that way quite a bit.  I don't want to move.  I worked my butt off to buy my own house with my own money after starting completely over after three divorces.  What's here in my house is mine, nothing has been shared with anyone else.  I got rid of all the "stuff".  Although I confess I kept photos because I can't un-do what was a part of my kids' life.  But that doesn't mean I wallow in the memories.  

It's never too late for new experiences is going to be the motto I take away from this movie today!

After finishing the movie, I'm having a couple of second thoughts.  I think feeling the way I do about this movie today has to do with the fact that I've been .... pondering some "what if .." situations about a man I loved many many years ago.  I am too practical and realistic to actually do anything about it.  And I've been alone for too many long years.  But feeling lonely is only temporary.  Then I get busy again and those thoughts go right out the window. 

Weird thoughts that end up all over the board seems to be the standard for me lately.  Somehow I need to find some kind of focus, something different to occupy my time (since I'm done sewing masks for the gals at the hospital where my daughter works!)  Maybe a totally different art project.  Maybe more work on my scrapbooks.  Or ......  well, it's a blank slate for me.  I can do anything I set my mind to do! 

Treasure Your Memories

 Usually I don't take these days off, but this year I did because it's the weekend directly following inventory in my BigBox store.  But its much easier to be at work, to be busy doing things that keep me from dwelling, from thinking.  

My sister's birthday, my son's birthday, my Dad's birthday all within 12 days of each other.  And all of them have died.  They're gone from my life, but not from my memories.  Most of the time, I'm fine with the memories, from all the good times we've shared.   Doing things as a family when we were growing up was something instilled in me by my parents, and I kept up that tradition with my own kids.  Between holiday traditions, vacation traditions and dinner around the table together every night, we managed to build on our memories. 

I can remember growing up, Dad would make a joke about living the high life because he has not one but *two* dishwashers -- named Linda and Lori.  lol   During summer vacations, my sister and I would challenge ourselves to see how fast we could wash and dry the dishes so we could get back outside to play with the neighbor kids.   Holidays were centered around the family meal.  With my own kids, we followed tradition and ate dinner together around the table.  We learned early on to skip questions like "how was school" getting the proverbial non answer of "fine".  We pushed them with questions like "what did you learn in school today".  It's amazing what answers come out of children when you ask different questions! 

Sometimes we had them picking sips of paper with a quote on it, or a joke, and had them read out loud.  I was always horrible about speaking in front of people, and I didn't want my own kids to have that problem! But the best memories were when they didn't have to be prompted and just spoke their minds on whatever they chose.  

Building memories with your family is something that can -never- be taken away from you, even after your loved ones are gone.  Don't choose things over people, don't choose your work over your family.  You'll treasure those memories even more later in life.