Saturday, October 19, 2013
Tonight's picture was taken in October of 2008. Mattie was in the clinic and had been working on the cardboard box structure you see in front of him. Mattie, with the help of his art therapists (Jenny and Jessie), transformed a simple brown box to an amazing haunted house. That house was an incredible work of art and it even had a flying witch inside the house! Mattie was holding the witch for this photo. We got a lot of play time out of this box, as we did with all of Mattie's boxed creations. Mattie loved imaginative play and he also loved to create his play environments. I wish back then I kept every box and took a photo of all his creations side by side. They were an impressive collection!
Quote of the day: Listening to one's self as well as to others is a sacred act of healing. There is a higher octave of listening that hears the wisdom within the words. ~ Cheryl Hamada
My parents had a neighborhood committee meeting at their home this morning. I met a fellow who lives in their community and my parents told me before he arrived that he is a commercial airline pilot. A made a mental note of that, but while the meeting was going on I remained in another room working on the computer. After the meeting was over, I happened to ask my mom what the pilot's last name was, I am not sure why, but I asked. I learned his last name is Cooper. Well I immediately stopped in my tracks because guess what the name of the pilot was who flew me from DC to Los Angeles? It too was Cooper and I flew on the same airline in which he is a pilot. I distinctly remember his last name because after hearing it announced, I thought of Mattie's friend Campbell Cooper! What are the chances that I would meet the pilot that flew my plane?! I am not sure why that intrigues me. Maybe because I HATE flying! Flying across the country on Monday was very turbulent. In fact, the turbulence did not show up on the radar and the pilot took to the loud speaker several times letting us know he was trying to adjust our altitude to give us a smoother ride. At one point we were at 36,000 feet and the plane felt like it was free falling to 30,000 feet to get us out of the choppiness. That is why I said..... THANK goodness for Dramamine on Monday's blog. But the pilot's voice caught my attention today. Mainly because his speech is notable. His demeanor is very calm, patient, and seems to be able to defuse tension. This is the same feeling I had while listening to the pilot over the loud speaker on Monday's flight.
Bessie's character is beyond dysfunctional as she tries to control the lives and movements of each of her family members living in her apartment. The list of family members was extensive: her husband, two children, her father, and a boarder all living under one roof. How all these people fit in such a tiny space is amazing but what the play clearly illustrated was using manipulation, control, and at times deception when raising a family not only doesn't work but it can come back and haunt you.
It was an interesting psychological profile of a family that reminds us that one dysfunctional and unstable individual can indeed pollute an entire family system. What I found particularly awful is how the play ended. In the end Bessie's daughter (Hennie, who was controlled by her mom and forced to marry a man she did not love) decides to run away with another man, leaving behind a husband who was devoted to her. The catch was to leave with this other man Hennie had to leave her baby behind. Behind to be cared for by her mother, a woman we already know reeked havoc on one generation of children. The man Hennie decided to run away with was an amputee, he lost his leg in the war. He tells Hennie that when he had to get his leg amputated his doctor said, "you just cut it off and live your life." In essence he said she had to do the same thing regarding her child (cut it out), in order to lead a happier life. Needless to say this decision and the cavalier and expendable nature of a child's life were disturbing to me.
Awake and Sing is quite telling because when you hear the play's dialogue and disagreements about politics, what families argue about, and the stresses upon individuals, couples, and families it is quite apparent that some things haven't change much since the 1930s. That alone is a scary and revealing notion!
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