Glass Castles, Horses, & The Pursuit of Happyness

from the mom

My recent extracurricular pursuits have led me to contemplate families in all their complexity.

I recently read The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls for book group. Walls is a journalist for MSNBC.com who penned a memoir of her childhood growing up in the original dysfunctional family. She did a fabulous job at not commentating on her childhood, just telling the truth. Her life growing up with a brilliant but alcoholic and unreliable father and an artistic and eccentric mother is painful at times. Living on just popcorn for weeks, eating food from the garbage, waking up with an intruder in the house because her parents refused to close the door at night, and seeing her homeless mother on a street corner as she went to a Park Avenue party as a young adult all make for a "truth is stranger than fiction" memoir. This family stays together from California to Arizona to Welch, West Virginia, until finally, one by one, the children all move to New York City to start lives of their own. Ultimately their parents follow them there to be near their family and live as squatters despite her mother's million-dollar property. If you think your parents were weird, this is a must-read book. Everyone else should read it for an amazing story of overcoming your past.

Also a story about family, the movie The Pursuit of Happyness is based on a true story of a father determined not to fail his son the way his father failed him. Will Smith and his son Jaden give incredible performances depicting Chris and Christopher Gardner in 1980s San Francisco. This father refuses to accept failure, and refuses to let go of his son. This story is inspirational.

Finally, I loved Flicka. The father in the family thought it was a "chick flick;" Ben loved the horses and watched the horse sequences over and over. I loved the family. A woman who respected her husband and when she thought he was wrong talked about it with him alone instead of challenging him publicly. (Except for once when he failed to honor his commitment to discuss business decisions with her.) Children who loved and honored their parents, even while thinking their father is wrong. (Extreme traditionalists will feel that the daughter failed to obey her father, but her love and respect for him is clear throughout the film.) A father who loves and protects his family and whose strength exhibits itself in a strong and confident daughter. We don't have enough images of positive families in popular entertainment. When a good one comes along, it is worth mentioning.