When I was in middle school I read Gilda Radner's autobiography It's Always Something, and it is from that book that I pilfered my blog's name. It's Always Something was a personal account to Radner's struggle with ovarian cancer, but more than that it was a testament to her life and how she chose to face each day.
This book and the Ryan White story changed my life. Ironically, or not so ironically Radner also faced issues with RPL and infertility. In her book she talked a lot about her father's influence on her and her attitude and credited him with the title (also a common line in her Roseanne Roseannadanna sketches) "It's like my father always said to me, he said to me, he said, Roseanne Roseannadanna, it's always something. If it isn't one thing--it's another! It's always something."
Simple. Profound. But so true, isn't it? I mean it IS always something. Life isn't about perfection and picket fences and 2.5 children in a perfectly coiffed surburban house. It's about waking up each day and facing whatever life hands you. And it's not about the trials and tribulations we face, but about our attitude and approach to facing them.
Look, I'm no Polly Prozac. I often have to remind myself when facing a new hurdle - if it wasn't this it would be something else, because it is always something. And as long as I keep that in mind, most days I can hold my shit together long enough to move from one problem to the next with a smile on my face.
This blog is a testament to my life. What's piquing my interest one day or occupying my thoughts the next. Sometimes it's facing disappointment and other times it's sharing my smiles. So there you have it.
Gilda may not have been one of life's great philosophers but maybe she should have been, because I think she understood, I mean really understood, what it meant to live before she died.
Before I go, I might as well share a few more snippets from her book that have stuck with me. I had to do a little googling to make sure I got the wording right, but I've remembered the message for more than 20 years.
"I wanted a perfect ending. Now I've learned, the hard way, that some poems don't rhyme, and some stories don't have a clear beginning, middle and end. Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it, without knowing what's going to happen next. Delicious ambiguity."
"Dreams are like paper, they tear so easily."
"While we have the gift of life, it seems to me that only tragedy is to allow part of us to die - whether it is our spirit, our creativity, or our glorious uniqueness."
