🍊🍃“No one can live on their own. Go together, with others. If you do, 100 miles will feel like ten."
Like many of you out there, I just finished watching When Life Gives You Tangerines, and also like many of you, this story touched places in my heart and soul that I did not know existed.
I can’t say I have ever felt such a jarring mix of joy and pain all at once in my life. And while highly dramatic, I cannot phrase it any other way than my soul has been moved.
Because I see my family in this story…
🍊this story is for my mother, who too lost her mother and father when she was young. Whose heart is always so tender and unconditionally loving. Who worries, nags, cries, and yearns for the best for her family. Whose love and wisdom is often brushed off and seemingly overbearing to her loved ones. For my mom who’s life was riddled with fear, unhappiness, worry and death, but always chose kindness and understanding. For my mom who had dreams bigger than life, and as they were at the tips of her finger, sacrificed them because her family became her new dream. For my mom, whose sole purpose in life is to love her family better than she did the day before. For my mom who is just a girl living life for the first time like the rest of us, and yet echos wisdom that will affect and ripple across hundreds of lives for generations to come.
🍊this story is for my father whose quiet and stoic nature often leaves him misunderstood and walking in the shadow of my mother’s brightness. For the father who suffers the punches and waves of life silence. For my dad who’s lost his job twice throughout my life, and yet always kept a roof over our head and food on the table, and never let us feel the weight of the world coming down on us. For my father who, for a long time, i resented because it felt like he was shutting himself away within a fortress, leaving us trying to get in. But now realize was never locking us out but actually sheltering and protecting us within the fortress of his love. Standing with his back to the harsh world so that we might not have to face it completely alone. Loving us in his own quiet way that often goes unappreciated.
🍊This story is for the middle child — my big sister — who seems to draw the short stick in life quite often. Who feels forgotten and like a last priority. Who desires to be loved as much as they love others — and often times, are the ones who love so much greater than the rest. Who too toils and sacrifices for their dreams and independence since no one supported or dreamed with them. Who desperately wants to fit in with their family but can only see independence as a means of earning their love, respect and attention. Who chase and give all that they can because it feels that love is earned rather than freely given. For my sister who yells, screams and raises hell to get her point across; but who will walk through hell with you on her back without asking further questions. For my sister and all those children who need to remember that they were never forgotten, but loved in steadier and silent ways.
🍊This story is for the sons — my brother — who are expected the most from, and are loved the quietest. Who are often expected to sacrifice, follow and lead without question or concern, and yet do not know the same gentle and tender care that their sisters receives. Who often do not know the soft love of their fathers, and yet are expected to love with a gentle spirit. Who feel awkward and uncomfortable moving through life as they try to become like their fathers, but simply desire the approval and love of their mothers. For my brother who has sacrificed big and small things as the eldest child for the sake of teaching not only his younger sisters, but his parents, on how to walk through life together.
🍊This story is for the “golden” children. Who dreamed so big but never truly accounted for the burden of expectations until they were faced with what comes with their prayers. Who will always feel less than deserving of the sacrifices of others. For the children who do not know how to separate gratitude from their guilt. Who cannot reconcile the idea of their parents and family giving up their dreams just for them to reach their own. Who simply wish to repay the priceless support from their family. For the child who feels guilty reaching higher heights because they can’t help but look back at the smiling faces of their family who lovingly offered you their backs to step on to go higher. For the child who will appraise get indebted no matter how much they give. Who silent eventually themselves that one’s success is not usually the product of only one’s personal effort but of those who unconditionally loved and supported them.
🍊This story is for the grandparents who loved and raised our parents. That, even in their imperfection, wanted more for their family. For my grandmothers in heaven and my mother here, I can only think that they are smiling with joy when they see the goodness of their children, and I hope they know that that good is a reflection of their goodness that they showed to them.
🍊This story is for the family’s who burden and struggle together. For the parents who lost a child too soon, and the children who lost their parent too early. For the guilty and repentant parents. For the children who resent and love their family all at once. For those who wish to be just like their parents and those who desire to change their family’s destiny. For the family’s who fight for each other and commit to one another no matter the challenges ahead. Who choose loyalty, love, patience, humility and understanding over themselves. For the family’s who trust that with time, all wounds will heal, even if there is a scar.
We do not get to choose the families we are born into, but we do get to choose the one we create. And this story is not just a story, but also call. A challenge that in the midst of life and our own imperfections and challenges, we can choose to be better for those we love. That resilience and joy are products of intentionality and not simply our circumstances.
🍊🍃We must bide our time in this life wisely and decide what truly matters. There is no such things as a perfect love, but that we can strive to love perfectly. 🍃🍊
A/N: sorry guys, I truly am no writer by any means, but I can’t help but pour my heart into this. 🥲🫶🍊🍃
Your characters are allowed to be bad people. Your story is allowed to have no moral lesson.yyour ending is allowed to be sad. The villain can win. The good person can do something unforgivable. The lovers can destroy each other. You are allowed to write the thing that no one asked for and everything that everyone told you doesn’t work and you are allowed to not explain yourself.
The most interesting question you can ask about any character is not what do they want. it's what do they believe they deserve. because those two things are almost never the same and the gap between them is where your entire story lives. a person can want love completely and believe they don't deserve it and that belief will destroy every good thing that comes toward them in ways they won't even notice they're doing. write the gap. the gap is the character.
time loop with two people in it but one person refuses to acknowledge the loop and pretends to be looping with everyone else. meanwhile the other person is freaking out
“I woke up extremely happy today. I only let sadness consume me for a day maximum. If God grants me life and I happen to wake up the next day, the last thing I’m going to do is spend it worrying about yesterday. It is what it is but it won’t affect my joy. Ever 🌻”
