Thursday, February 5, 2015

Lists, Lows, and Gender Sterotypes

Hi –

So that moment that I’ve been secretly afraid of for all of my professional years happened today. I cried in a meeting. A meeting with all men. All bigger than me men. In a meeting I called. My embarrassment level is officially off the charts. I handled it in the best way possible, meeting was called to an end and I left as quickly as possible, tripping along the way and spilling coffee on myself. Today will go down as not a winner.

Honestly, it’s just topping to what has not been my favorite week. I’ve just felt off, hence why I’m writing. It’s been a very very very long time.

I commented on a blog I read the other day. It was about what losing your mom really felt like. There was a great line in it…”Losing a mother is like being on a ship that has lost it's ballast and is now at the mercy of the deepest ocean and all it holds within. I bob around without a foundation to bring me back to the same balanced spot each time, a spot I just can't get right.” It’s so very true.

My comment was how I want to tell her it will get better; she lost her mom in the last 6 months. But I think that’s a lie we tell ourselves so that we get up the next day. It doesn’t ever get better. That’s the hard realization that I’ve slowly been coming too. I talked about it a lot in the beginning, that I didn’t see it ever getting better. That I saw myself now with a hole in my heart. Or this truth about myself that I had to carry around. It’s so much more and different then all of those things.

I make lists now. I have a running list of things in my head of what you’ve missed. Or won’t get to see. Milestones like how in December I bought my first car. Lowest of low moments like today where I cried at work. Amazing ones like seeing Garth Brooks in concert. Seriously amazing. Then the in-between ones like attending my first PGA show, or the latest movie I saw that was really good. Tons and tons of lists.

Today was a rough day all on it’s own. You not being able to help me through it makes it doubly rough. Apologizing for crying is not a fun thing to do ever. Especially at work. Especially to men.  I’ve never been the type of person to pay attention to gender stereotypes at work. Mainly because I refuse to believe that this is still something that goes on. It’s completely unacceptable and unfathomable. And yet today I played right into it. Like a fucking fiddle. My name is Rachel Rosenthal and today I cried at work.

Fuck me!

Love you forever, Miss you Always,
Rachel


“Some people say, “Never let them see you cry.” I say, if you’re so mad you could just cry, then cry. It terrifies everyone.” Tina Fey, Bossypants

Monday, August 18, 2014

You win some...you lose some....

Heyo –

How goes it?

Because it’s going great here. I’m in an amazing place. This new job I started is great. So far, I’m loving it. Learning new things, doing new things, wearing business clothes everyday. It’s pretty revolutionary for me.

The days go by – sometimes a few at a time  - where I’m not compelled to bring you up all the time. Where every conversation doesn’t make me think of you. Remind me of you.

Sometimes when that happens I catch myself, and I’m outraged that I went that long without thinking about you. Then other times I’m proud of myself for making it so long. I believe some might call that growing or even accepting.

I had a great day today, seriously a great day. Part of me is so excited about that. I think it shows how far I’ve come. How much I’ve grown in the last 4 years. How far I am from that moment on 7th avenue on my knees. Another part of me is scared and anxious the farther I get from that moment. Farther from a life with you. Farther from your smell, your soft hands, from the way I fit right under your chin while we laid on the bed. Just farther.

It’s a mixed bag really. Today was a great day. I really love my new job. But I remember a day a few weeks ago where all I wanted was to talk to you on the phone. It was one of those meh days where all you want to do is call your mommy. So you win some and you lose some. Today goes in the win column.

This doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. I’m just rambling at the moment. But sometimes that’s how it all looks in my head. Fleeting thoughts. Could be because its almost midnight and I’ve been up since 5:30. And on that note, I’m off to bed.

Love you forever, Miss you always.
Rachel

“I carry you with me into the world, into the smell of rain and the words that dance between people and for me, it will always be this way, walking in the light, remembering being alive together”

Sunday, May 11, 2014

Things we carry...

Hey,

I’ve spent all day waiting to feel something. Whether it be bad, or sad, or empty, just something; and it never came. Sort of the same way I felt on your birthday. I think it speaks more to the place I’m in my life then anything else. I have no idea what I want on any scale – job, location, love, life – that adding you into the mix just makes me a bit disengaged if that makes any sense.

Someone told me to wish my mom a Happy Mothers Day today, and I didn’t correct them. I just let it go. It felt easier not to correct them. Not to go into it all. Not to bring that into the new relationship with the person.  Give myself more time to be a regular unscathed person. Not that who I am now is a bad thing, but it’s a thing. It’s a thing I carry. I’ll always carry. I can’t stop thinking about it. I’m almost compelled to text them now and correct them, but that feels a bit on the crazy scale. I’ll wait for it to come up naturally.

It is interesting to think about that every new person I meet has no idea. Every person you meet comes with a blank slab of sorts. You assume everyone has a bit of baggage they carry around with them, but for those first 5 minutes or so everyone’s totally normal and unscathed. Then they ask what your parents do, it comes out, and there’s a look. There’s always a look. 

In the beginning there was a shock value of sorts in seeing the look on the other persons face. I almost got off on it in a sick way. Now, I just don’t want to see it. I think, I hope, it's because I’m evolving. Growing. Coming to terms I suspect. Who knows. I’ve sort of come to a place where I’ve stopped trying to figure it all out. Or just this anyway. I’ve been leaning into it and just going with the flow of things.

In the vein of just going with the flow, Happy Mothers Day! I’ll leave you with the memory of the Mothers Day where we met Herman for the first time. I was sitting at one of the folding tables with you, Sheila, and Joel. We were drinking mimosas and eating quiche. Herman walked by, and Joel says to us ‘Dead man walking’. We all almost fell out of our chairs laughing so hard. Grandma Henny did manage to outlive 3 men.

Love you always, Miss you forever.
Rachel

Since I was a girl
Dreamed of a different life
Far away in the lights
But now I’m here
Staring into the face of the unknown


And who was I to think I could fool them
When I don’t even know who I am
What’s it gonna take to make me worthy
What’s it’s gonna take to make me strong
I don’t have much to give
I’ve only just begun to live


So how do I become somebody new
How do I begin to make this happen
How will I believe and see this through
When I feel so unready
And I feel so alone

Back on solid ground
My head is spinning round
My heart is in two different worlds
But I’m still here
Wondering where I fit into this madness

I thought when I was home I’d see clearly
But there’s so much I don’t understand
What’s it’s gonna take to lift the darkness
What’s it’s gonna take to light my way
I have so much to give
I’ve only just begun to live


So how do I begin my life anew
How do I begin to make this happen
How do I believe and see this through
Cause I feel like I’m ready
But I still feel unsure”

Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Things I've Learned.....

 Hi Mom,

I’m sitting on the deck of a beach house, bundled up, listening to my friends laughing inside. It feels like just the right way to end the year. I also just ate a piece of cold pizza while on the deck which only furthers my argument.  I’m ending the year facing the same ocean and with the same people as I started off the year. It feels right and perfect and meant to be. We all spent the year growing, taking steps forward and some back but always picking ourselves back up, and moving forward. Some of us moved away and some of us came back. Some of us are blood related and some related by love and experience. But we all chose to be here. We all chose each other.  We are a family of choice.  

This year has been crazy. I made what felt like the hardest decision of my entire life.  The decision to quit my job was filled with more tears then one would expect. Filled with more conversations about blue-sky dreams that I still don’t know the answers too. And it was filled with the most courage that I think I have ever had in my entire life. 

Once the novelty of it wore off and I was faced with having to fill my days with something there were moments of regret. Moments of wondering and fearing if I would ever find another job; ever are able to support myself again. Then something magical happened and in those moments I learned how to just be. Once the constant concern about what was going on back at my job, and how the projects I had left were doing, there was quietness. I don’t think my head has ever been quite. I don’t think I was ever able to just sit and be with myself before.  Be in a place without a TV on or someone to talk too. Just be.

In the moments of stillness I rediscovered my love of music. I remembered that music fills a space just as much as a TV. I remembered how much I love to do puzzles, and how making the pieces fit together is a small victory that is tangible and makes me smile. I remembered how to listen to myself. How to trust my instincts again.  Things that had left me in the years where I was filled with other things.  

Most importantly I learned that I will go on. My life will be good, great even. There will always be a place next to me that is empty. A place left open when you died, but it will no longer define me. I will and have put myself back together again. I’ve lived. I’ve had amazing experiences and will continue too. Life does go on. It looks different, and it takes a while to get myself started, but once I start there’s no stopping me.

In 2013 I traveled to places I had never been before. Lived in a place where I did not speak the language. Spent time being quite. Spent time being loud.  Spent time being selfish. Spent time being selfless. Spent time just being.

2014 better get ready. I’m here, I’m better then I’ve been before, and I’m ready.

Love you forever, Miss you always
Rachel


My 2014 Horoscope: Cancer: This year, when the world around you starts to come together, when it starts to make sense, then work on building a place where you can live. Work on making a place that feels like a home, someplace where your friends can visit, or where your kitchen is clean and bright, or where you can fall asleep easily and dream that you’re floating and light. Work on telling stories that can sustain you, work on building friendships that can keep you whole. Learn about the place where you live, go on walks, keep your eyes and your heart open wide.

Sunday, August 18, 2013

Turning a corner...or at least a bend in the road.


Hi,

“It's not just a person that one loses; it's a life. Death – it doesn't take someone else, it takes us as well. We mourn death – the death of them, but also the death of the life we'll never have. And that, that other mourning is far worse, for in that – we are alone – that is loneliness.”

I’ve spent a lot of time the past few days thinking about today, and how its 3 years, and how I feel about that, and how I feel about myself, my life, the choices I’ve made in the last 1,095 days. I keep coming back to the same idea – how do I measure the last 3 years, when I don’t remember the day before the 3 years?

I’ve some how completely forgotten (or really just blocked out) the things that made me me 1,096 days ago. I remember the things I was doing – working at Warner Bros during the day, and being the only American waitress at the Irish Pub by night. Drinking a lot. Eating out a lot. Living in a 2 bedroom apartment with 3 people, in the middle of Times Square. Living pay check to pay check in the hopes that around the corner was the promotion I know I deserved or a new job opportunity.  But that’s where it ends.

I’m having a hard time remembering my wants and desires for my life back then.  I’m sure that’s normal, but its hard to decide if I’m on the right path now. If that makes sense.

I feel like I’m on a completely different path now.  That on August 18th 2010 I made some turn somewhere and ended up here. Not that here is bad; it’s just missing you. The things that were once important and the focus of my days have shifted.

The here and now is actually really good. I’ve been traveling the US for the past few months; essentially couch/guestroom hopping from one friend to another. I’ve been able to see people I haven’t seen in over a year and do some really fun and important things. The biggest thing that’s happened is Sara had her baby 9 days ago and he’s amazing. I’m able to be here for a month to help her and get to know him, and just be here. Then I’m headed to Russia for 8 days, and then off to Shanghai for 3 months. The here and now is not bad at all. It just lacks you.

I think that might be why I’m in a weird melancholy place today, because things are really good. Almost great. I feel great, I’m really happy with what I'm doing these days. I’m juicing and going to Yoga, which I mean who would have ever in a million years thought that would be my life.  But it is, and it’s really good.

And good is ok. You would want good and great and amazing and magnificent for us. All of us. And I think I can honestly say that today, 3 years later we all might be a little closer to that. And I think that’s saying something.

"Maybe it's not about ignoring the past, maybe it's about embracing it
for what it is – a fond memory that's no longer a possibility."

Love you forever, Miss you always,
Rachel

Wednesday, June 26, 2013

....all by myself...


Hi -

I'm having a hard time with 29. If you take away the job, the home, the belongings inside the home and look at what's left most people have –husbands, wives, kids, a pet, passion, desires, something.  I feel like if you take away my job and apartment and all the things that were inside of it - I'm just standing there alone. That's what I did and that's what it feels like. I'm standing here alone.

Granted I did all this myself. I made active decisions that got myself here but now I'm here and it feels lonely. Which might be the point, I haven't figured that out yet. I haven't figured a lot out yet.

I do know I spent a month in San Francisco and probably smoked a bit too much because I don't know if I have anything to show for it that I wanted too. I want to believe I made relationships and made tracks in people's lives but I'm not sure if I was present enough. I'm not sure that was the right place right off the bat. I think I need to go back later. Maybe after I've figured some stuff out.

I also know that while I don't regret the decisions I made to get here I do think maybe I would have staggered all the life changes a bit instead of knocking them out in one full swoop. Maybe quitting my job, moving out of my apartment, and saying goodbye to Orlando (and everyone in it) all in the same week was a bit fast. I ripped that Band-Aid off so fast I don't really even remember doing it. And now I'm really tired.

I have learned the difference between easy and hard decisions. So that's definitely something. I can say it was easy to move to Orlando 2 years ago. It was so easy it was almost like the decision was made for me. All the pieces fell into place perfectly. Everything materialized and made sense and it was glaringly obvious that that was the path to take. Deciding to quit my job and become a vagabond was the hardest decision I have ever made. Or at least the most active one. There were no pieces that fit together. There was so much agonizing, that I was even sick of myself. There were so many tears (and not all were mine). And it's still agonizing and tearful and everyday I wonder was this right? Can I take it back? Do I want to take it back? Would Orlando look the same?

There's a part of me that feels exactly the same way I did when I was turning 28. That's the scariest thing of all. I honestly and truly think I might be in the same place as I was a year ago. I thought turning everything on its side, giving myself the freedom to feel and be open and be present would change something. Maybe it hasn't been long enough. It's only been a little over a month. So maybe the person I was when I left Orlando was the same person I was when I turned 28, and it hasn't been long enough but hopefully things are in movement. Otherwise what the hell am I doing?

Love you forever, Miss you always.
Rachel

“…I had to change. I had to change was the thought that drove me in those months of planning. Not into a different person, but back to the person I used to be – strong and responsible, clear-eyed and driving, ethical and good…”

Sunday, May 12, 2013

High, flying adore....


Hey –

There are moments when I look around a room and think to myself how did I get here. How did this become my life. I think I’ve said this before, but it’s still very true. Every once in a while I’ll take inventory of a room, and think hmmmmm so this is it.  It’s not always in a bad way or a good way. Just a truth.

Some other truths for the moment – I’m unemployed. Yep, that happened. May 1st came and went – along with my job. There were tears, anxiety, hugs, well wishes, and then it was over. Slightly anti-climactic. But aren’t most things. I’m still pretty terrified, and not at all confident it really happened. There’s a part of me that truly believes after we get back from Hawaii, I'm going back to work. I guess when I wake up on Matt’s couch on May 20th; it might start to sink in.

I’m also somewhat homeless. I prefer not to say homeless, but un-tethered. Meridith and I moved out of our lovely Baldwin Park apartment. Again, there were tears, anxiety, a lot of sweat, and then it was over. In the words of the very wise Meridith, ‘it took us a week in May 2 years ago to build this life, and its taking us a week in May 2 years later to take it apart. We can get it back if we want it.’ She’s so wise that Meridith. Alas, we are moving on though. She’s got boxes packed up at Carly’s ready for China and I’ve got a few boxes and suitcases in the garage at Dad’s. I got rid of the majority of all of my belongings. The amount of things I kept fit into the Kia with room to see out the back.

The 2 years I spent in Orlando were amazing, painful, healing, extraordinary, hysterical, some of the best of my life. I needed them. I healed a part of myself during those 2 years. But, my time there ran its course. I could probably have stayed there forever. It was comfortable. Too comfortable, some might say. Too easy.

A little over a week ago, I had a psychic massage. It’s not exactly a psychic massage but I’m not sure what else to call it. The woman who is giving you the massage reads your energy and intuits things about you. I have to say I went in with no expectations or fears about what she was going to say. In fact I was really going more for the massage then anything else. But, she got me. With in a minute of the massage she said something and I just thought, well here we go. She knows what she’s doing.  She pretty much took the proverbial hammer and hit the shit out of the nail.

She said a lot of things, and I really do believe that you can choose how much stock you want to put into them. How much you want to focus on what she is saying. How much you want to now make your life about what she has said. Or change things perhaps. It’s all up to you. She’s only telling you how things look in that moment. There were a few things she said that really stood out. Things that Carly and Meridith and Sara have all said to me before but when this woman who you have never met is telling you that you have a strong and hard soul, that you don’t trust or open up to others easily - you tend to believe it a little more.  When she tells you that you need to learn to be more open and allow yourself to get hurt, and experience romance and intimacy, and be softer - you hear it in a different way. It sounds different somehow when she says it. 

When she tells you that the adventure your beginning on will be amazing as long as you are open to it, and allow things to happen and experiences to develop in front of you, it sounds easy and amazing, and like something I want to do. Something that I need to do. I don’t want to be a hard person. I don’t want to never experience romance or intimacy. I want to be in love. I want these things for myself. She made me believe that they can happen, and will happen. So these words of hers I chose to believe and put weight in.

We spent a lot of time talking about you (shocker I know).  We talked about reincarnation, and about how this is not our only life. Then she told me something that I will keep with me forever. She said that she saw the reason I was brought to her that day for the massage. I was there and she was there in that moment, so that she could tell me that this was not our only life together, that You Me and Matt have been together forever. In our past lives we were not always mother and children, but that we were always together in some way or another. She told me that in this life you could only be here for a short time, and that you were sorry about that. But the whole reason for this life and this moment was for you to be our mother, and that you had to leave so soon so that I could become the strong person I am today, so that I could do the things that I am doing. She told me you were with me always, and that one day in this life I will find you again in the physical form. She didn’t say specifically how I would find you – just that I would. That in your moment of a death, someone was having a moment of life and that was where you went. And I would run into you again. But not to worry because we would also find each other in our next lives too, because we are always together. I will carry that with me always.

I think that’s why ever since you died I’ve been drawn to the e.e. cummings poem ‘I carry your heart’ because I do carry it. I’ll carry it until we are back together.


Love you forever, Miss you always.
Rachel

i carry your heart with me (i carry it in
my heart) i am never without it (anywhere
i go you go, my dear; and whatever is done
by only me is your doing, my darling)
                                                      i fear
no fate (for you are my fate, my sweet) i want
no world (for beautiful you are my world, my true)
and it’s you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life; which grows
higher than soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart (i carry it in my heart)”

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Shit’s About To Get Real!


Hi –

Well, shits about to get real. Really real. Like, lets start the 2-week countdown to my unemployment begins real. Yep, 2 weeks. Starts now (or tomorrow rather). In 2 weeks I, Rachel Rosenthal, will be unemployed. Without income. Sans health insurance. (Or cheaper health insurance). Able to sleep till whenever I want. Not a slave to the man. I could go on, but I’ll stop myself.

But that’s the gist.

In 2 weeks my journey/expedition of self-exploration will begin. First order of business is - get a better name for whatever it is I’m doing. 

Moral of this story is I’m clueless. I’m embracing said cluelessness though. I have no idea what I’m going to do, or where I’m going to go. I’ve put together a very very very loose road map that consists of go to Hawaii for the Rosenthal/Lamonica week-o-fun and then go back to Matt and Lauren’s. Plan over. How does it look?

I have ideas of going to NYC, Jersey, Boston, DC, Austin, Seattle, Chicago, Nashville, and New Orleans. Pretty much anywhere USA that I have not been before, or have a couch to crash on. But that’s it. (This is becoming my catch phrase, by the way). Seriously plan over. Now, how does it look?

Not only am I clueless, but oh yeah Terrified. With a capital T. Completely, truly, utterly, terrified.  I’ve got to figure my shit out. And by shit I mean life. And by life I mean what I want. And by what I want, I mean just that what I want.  Is it to be a product developer and make licensed merchandise for the rest of my life? Because, I’m pretty sure that’s not it.

Is it to find a way back into entertainment and somehow be involved in the process of bringing movies and TV to people? Something I love more then anything else that I can’t get enough of. Because I think that might be it. Magical question is how the hell do I go about doing that?

Is it to finally meet someone and fall in love, and start a family and have something be more important to me then a job? Have a reason beyond a job to get up and go about my day? Because I think that might be it too. 2nd magical question, how the hell do I do that?

How the hell do I do anything really?

So yeah like I said, shits about to get real.

Love you forever, miss you always.
Rachel

“Woke up on the wrong side of rock bottom
Throw a lot of pennies in a well
That done run dry
Light up and smoke 'em if you have 'em
But you just ain't got 'em
Yeah ain't we always looking
For a bluer sky

If you're ever gonna find a silver lining
It's gotta be a cloudy day
If you wanna fill your bottle up with lightening
You're gonna have to stand in the rain

Lemonade keeps turning into lemons
And you wear your heart on a ripped
Unraveled sleeve
Been run through the wringer
And pushed on to your limit
Say you're just unlucky
But luck ain't what you need

'Cause if you're ever gonna find
A four-leaf clover
You gotta get a little dirt on your hands
And if you wanna find a head
That fits your shoulder
You're gonna have to go to the dance

If you wanna find the honey
You can't be scared of the bees
And if you wanna see the forest
You're gonna have to look past the trees

If you're ever gonna find a silver lining
It's gotta be a cloudy day
If you wanna fill your bottle up with lightning
You're gonna have to stand in the rain”

Thursday, March 28, 2013

Thoughts from a castle on a cloud


Hi –

There is something about flying. Something about those hours spent on a plane where you are completely cut off from all forms of communication. I love it. Hours to yourself where you can do nothing but be with yourself. Sure you can watch TV or movies. Talk to people next to you. Sleep. Work. Etc. Whatever you want to do its up to you. It’s your own time. You’re in some sort of bubble all your own.  You are able to let your mind just wander.

Not to mention the fact that you are traveling thousands of miles in a matter of hours. It’s pretty cool.

So I’m on this plane, headed to Boston to spend 3 days with Sara. I’m super excited about it, especially since I haven’t seen her since august. She’s managed to buy a house, get a dog, a new car, and become pregnant. She’s been super duper busy.  Baby Rosenthal will be here in early august and I can’t wait.

In other news I’ve been making plans and wrapping my head around some pretty big ideas. Working on my threshold moment so to speak. It’s weird though, I’ve made these plans and these decisions but they don’t take effect for at least a month now so I’m in this weird holding spot. Living the day to day, but not “living” it.  Not sure if that makes sense.

I’m terrified of my big plans though. On one hand that’s good. Being scared is good. It means a) I’m not a cold hearted person who can’t feel (not that I really ever believed that entirely) and b) that I’m 75% sure I’m making the right decisions and plans. If you only ever went through life doing things that didn’t make you scared I would imagine no one would ever do anything.

The 25% of me that’s not sure is just that – not sure. Some days I’ll be sitting in meetings talking about merchandise and art and product development and it clicks. I get it. It makes sense. I feel like a valued member of a team, and I want to keep doing it. I want to finish out what I'm working on, see it come to fruition, and work on the next thing. Then there are the other days where I'm frustrated and annoyed and doing things I don’t want to be doing. Working on things I don’t want to work on. There are days where all I want to do is flip a table and call it quits.

Terrified and torn.

Good news is though the 75% of me that is sure is winning. Plans have been made. Seeds planted. Wheels in motion. (insert more cliche statements here) All that’s left is to actually jump. I would say wish me luck but I'm not sure luck is what I want. What I want is peace, healing, inspiration, desire, clarity, love, stimulation, gratitude, emotion. The things I’ve had fleeting glimpses of in my life, but never for longer then minutes at a time.

I want a full life.

Love you forever. Miss you always.
Rachel

Thursday, March 14, 2013

You better lose yourself in the music, the moment….


Hi,

Tonight I went to a performance of Loi’s and I was in awe of her the entire time. Not only did she get up in front of a crowd of half uninterested people and sing her heart out but she's found the courage and strength to do what she loves. She's so passionate about singing and song writing. You can see it on her face as she sings. She throws her head back with her eyes closed and just belts it out.  It's an inspiring thing to watch. She loses her self completely.

You know what I lose myself in? A 48-page document of testing standards and protocols. Trying to figure out what the legal levels of cadmium, lead, and phthalates are. Or how many times you can wash a kids shirt before it can fade and pill.

This is not how I pictured my life. Problem is I’ve lost the picture I once had. I’ve lost myself. I’m just lost.

Maybe I’m taking a time out and with you somewhere. Resting. I should probably tag myself back in soon, huh?

Love you forever, Miss you always.
Rachel

“…I was dead with deciding - afraid to choose
I was mourning the loss of the choices I'd lose
But there's no choice at all if I don't make my move
And trust that the timing is right
Yes and hold it up to the light…”