runlikejoy

Displaced Stay At Home Californian in rural N. Carolina

The Many Faces of Joy

The Many Faces of Joy

Tuesday, June 30, 2015

Movies

I took the summer crew to see the new Pixar film on Friday, Inside Out.  It is about an 11 year old girl that moves from rural Minnesota to San Francisco and her adjustment to moving from the country to the city.  She used to ice skate outside on frozen lakes and enjoy the freedom of roaming around to all of a sudden living in a city and navigating in a new environment.  Her Dad who was previously around all the time is now gone to work all the time and not available.  Big changes.

I usually take the kids to a summer movie and push my chair back, have some popcorn, distribute the snack/candy bags and then promptly fall asleep.  This is what I did in the Lego movie, the Cinderella movie and anything Disney/Dreamworks/Princess related.  And when the movie is over I feel refreshed that for the price of $20 dollars I got a good hour long nap in a cool air conditioned room that is dark and noisy.  And I blocked out a good amount of crap, like the song about everything being Awesome from the Lego movie.

This movie caught my attention immediately because it has a peppy and upbeat character named Joy.  How can you lose with that name?  Seriously.  Its a verb, its an emotion, its a name.  And also, those beautiful red arches of the Golden Gate Bridge instantly made me homesick and wish that I was also driving across that bridge with Riley or whatever the characters name is.

But we did the opposite, we flew away from those arches and ended up far away from our family and friends and had to make new friends.  And when we go back to visit it doesn't quite feel like home anymore because our house and our animals and all our stuff is somewhere else.  Anyway - I'm getting off track and at some point in the movie, Joy and Sadness get lost and Riley is left with Anger, Fear and Disgust.  And at some point my little Fiona snuggled into my left arm and whispered, "that is what I felt like when we moved here Mommy" and I looked down at her and she was crying.

They say Home Is Where The Heart Is and my heart is definitely here in North Carolina.  My husband is here, my kids are here, my pets are here, my new life is here.  And while I miss family and friends in California - I don't know if we will ever get back there other than for the odd visit now and then.  But in the meantime we have Pixar and their ability to keep me awake for 2 hours and to do a little more than entertain.


1 comment:

Helen said...

Give me a moment for the idea that you may never get back here to sink in. :-( OK, I guess I will have to make it a habit to send you pictures of our Asian markets.