ANDY FISH

ANDY FISH is a comic book artist

Saturday, April 20, 2013

Sometimes life is like the Shawshank Redemption



I'm not a fan of HOWARD SCHLUMP or whatever the name of that movie is with Tom Hanks where he's a half wit spouting "Life is like a box of Chocolates" crap.  And yes I don't care what the actual title is.  Don't bother.

But life is sometimes like the Shawshank Redemption.
SPOILER ALERT-- If you haven't seen it read no further, although I reveal no actual details the overall plot is discussed.

In fact, the whole course of the movie is to me like a bad work-week or a perfect analogy for getting through any difficult time in your life.

It starts out bad, but you're hopeful.
It gets worse than you possibly imagine it could be.
There is some weak indication that it's getting better.
It gets even worse, hopeless even.
You become desperate but that leads to action.
You make it through despite all the obstacles, through impossible odds.
It all works out in the end.

Why am I thinking all this?

Veronica's vacation.

Yup, sorry I'm still talking about it.

Veronica did an artists residency at Eagle Hill School in the western part of the state, about thirty miles away, but we were never apart more than three days.   I'd spend some time out there or she'd come home when she didn't have classes.  It was pretty easy plus we could talk on the phone whenever we want to.

So we didn't think anything of this.  When the trip came up and I couldn't make it I encouraged her to go.  I was committed to a year long class I run at WAM, in the final edits of my latest book with my editors and had workshops and meetings which prevented me from going during cherry blossom season.  She packed up my mom and headed off to visit the other side of the world.

I knew driving away from the airport that this was going to be a hell of a lot harder than I anticipated.  My thoughts of being able to watch Clint Eastwood westerns and throw my clothes on the floor for a month quickly disappeared when I realized I am going to miss my wife and best friend.

Make no mistake, we have a perfect relationship.  We don't fight.  We seldom disagree and we talk about any issues right away.   It's not even that she won't "let me" watch Eastwood westerns, she couldn't care less if I did, but I know she doesn't like them so I prefer to not make her sit through them.

That's a big component to our relationship too-- it's never adversarial.  We don't do things to push the other's buttons, and I think we both put the other's happiness above our own.

This trip of hers has been like Shawshank for me.
But I'm nearing the end of the tunnel, and I can see the rain on the other side and in only a few days I'll be standing in that river washing myself clean.

I've just got to get through this weekend.