March 5, 2009

Invisible Mother.

I received this in an email and loved it. I don't know who the original author is but I thought it was so true. I hope you enjoy!

Invisible Mother.....

It all began to make sense, the blank stares, the lack of response, the way one of the kids will walk into the room while I'm on the phone and ask to be taken to the store. Inside I'm thinking, 'Can't you see I'm on the phone?' Obviously not; no one can see if I'm on the phone, or cooking, or sweeping the floor, or even standing on my head in the corner, because no one can see me at all. I'm invisible. The invisible Mom.

Some days I am only a pair of hands, nothing more! Can you fix this? Can you tie this? Can you open this??
Some days I'm not a pair of hands; I'm not even a human being. I'm a clock to ask, 'What time is it?' I'm a satellite guide to answer, 'What number is the Disney Channel?' I'm a car to order, 'Right around 5:30, please.' I was certain that these were the hands that once held books and the eyes that studied history and the mind that graduated summa cum laude - but now, they had disappeared into the peanut butter, never to be seen again. She's going, she's going, she's gone!?

One night, a group of us were having dinner, celebrating the return of a friend from England . Janice had just gotten back from a fabulous trip, and she was going on and on about the hotel she stayed in. I was sitting there, looking around at the others all put together so well. It was hard not to compare and feel sorry for myself. I was feeling pretty pathetic, when Janice turned to me with a beautifully wrapped package, and said, 'I brought you this.' It was a book on the great cathedrals of Europe .
I wasn't exactly sure why she'd given it to me until I read her inscription: 'To Charlotte , with admiration for the greatness of what you are building when no one sees.'

In the days ahead I would read - no, devour - the book. And I would discover what would become for me, four life-changing truths, after which I could pattern my work: No one can say who built the great cathedrals - we have no record of their names. These builders gave their whole lives for a work they would never see finished. They made great sacrifices and expected no credit. The passion of their building was fueled by their faith that the eyes of God saw everything.
A legendary story in the book told of a rich man who came to visit the cathedral while it was being built, and he saw a workman carving a tiny bird on the inside of a beam. He was puzzled and asked the man, 'Why are you spending so much time carving that bird into a beam that will be covered by the roof, no one will ever see it." And the workman replied, 'Because God sees.' I closed the book, feeling the missing piece fall into place.

It was almost as if I heard God whispering to me, 'I see you, Charlotte. I see the sacrifices you make every day, even when no one around you does. No act of kindness you've done, no sequin you've sewn on, no cupcake you've baked, is too small for me to notice and smile over. You are building a great cathedral, but you can't see right now what it will become.
At times, my invisibility feels like an affliction. But it is not a disease that is erasing my life. It is the cure for the disease of my own self-centeredness. It is the antidote to my strong, stubborn pride.
I keep the right perspective when I see myself as a great builder. As one of the people who show up at a job that they will never see finished, to work on something that their name will never be on.

The writer of the book went so far as to say that no cathedrals could ever be built in our lifetime because there are so few people willing to sacrifice to that degree.

When I really think about it, I don't want my son to tell the friend he's bringing home from college for Thanksgiving, 'My Mom gets up at 4 in the morning and bakes homemade pies, and then she hand bastes a turkey for 3 hours and presses all the linens for the table.' That would mean I'd built a shrine or a monument to myself. I just want him to want to come home. And then, if there is anything more to say to his friend, to add, 'You're gonna love it there.'
As mothers, we are building great cathedrals. We cannot be seen if we're doing it right. And one day, it is very possible that the world will marvel, not only at what we have built, but at the beauty that has been added to the world by the sacrifices of invisible women.

Great Job, MOMS!

Posted by arlene at 12:14 PM | Comments (0)

January 17, 2009

New Moon the Movie

Just like all the other Twilight fans I know, I was excited when I heard that Summit would go ahead with the making of the next book in the series New Moon into a movie. I was anxious to hear if they would be replacing director Catherine Hardwicke and the writer Melissa Rosenberg. After having seen Twilight I felt that they needed different people in the production of New Moon, Eclipse, and Breaking Dawn. I am a movie person. I love watching movies and re-watching movies. I didn't think Twilight had lived up to it's potential. I felt it could have been so much better. I've read all the articles about low budget. There have been other low budget films that I feel made better use of what they had. The fact is that the next movie needs to be better. Not only are there young girls who went to see this movie several times it was also their mothers and older sisters. I've read several places where surveys were done and most of the women who said they would see it more than once were over 25. Summit has to realize that if these films don't continue to get better they will lose a lot of the fan base. Let us compare to Harry Potter, the first film was good, but once it was successful they spent more and more on the sequels. Each film got a little better until it reached a plateau of great special effects. I hope Summit, Melissa Rosenburg and Chris Weitz will stick more to the book and have some good special effects . I would personally like to see Edward Cullen sparkle instead of just sweat. I am also anxious to see Jacob Black shift into a wolf. Good Luck to all of you and here is hoping for a brilliant production of New Moon the second book in the series that we love.

Posted by arlene at 3:47 PM | Comments (0)

Twilight the Movie

I have thought long and hard about what I wanted to say about the movie Twilight. I want to first say, that yes I was one of those crazy fans that actually counted down the days for it's release and yes I did see it on the first day. In all I actually saw the movie 3 times. The first time I was with a big group of good friends who were all excited about seeing it. I think my first response after seeing the first time was disappointment. I liked it. I thought it could have been directed better and written much better. I thought most of the actors played their parts the best that they could with what they had to work with. I think that Rob Pattinson and Kristen Stewart had pretty good chemistry. I didn't feel that Catherine Hardwicke showed a good portrait of Bella. I also didn't feel the screen writer did her justice. I personally didn't like the weird extras that the director added. It could have been a spectacular movie and I felt it was mediocre. I loved Alice. She was fun and exactly as I pictured her.

Now having said all of this I feel I need to say how much more I enjoyed the movie the second time. I guess I was prepared for it. I was able to enjoy it more knowing that it wasn't the magnificent movie that I wanted it to be. I saw more details and enjoyed the chemistry more. So will I buy this movie YES and I will get it on the first day it is released.

Posted by arlene at 2:15 PM | Comments (0)