Do you ever feel like life is hard?
Do you ever wish that your life was better?
Do you ever feel unmotivated, or like you are doing anything worthwhile?
Do you feel like you are doing too much?
Do you ever wish your family was at least a bit more normal?
Do you ever wish you were physically or mentally different? Better looking, smarter, more athletic, happier...
If you answered "yes," "sometimes," "maybe," "not really," "no," or any other answer to any of these questions (get the hint?), then I suggest that you watch the documentary directed by Jonathan Karsh in 2003 titled "My Flesh and Blood."
This film is about an overweight, single, middle aged woman and her 11 adopted special needs children.
I have a lot of thoughts about this family, many of which I am still sorting out.
The mother is definitely doing way too much, and her decision to do so has a clearly negative affect on some of her children. On the other hand, she saw a need and she decided to do something about it, sacrificing her time, money, and life for these children. Then again, the children are not the only ones in the family with needs. The grandmother suggested, and I agree, that the mother has a deep need to help people, and the best way for her to feel loved and accepted is to help people who depend on her. Thus by helping these children who obviously need to be cared for, she is fulfilling her need to feel loved. I am not sure if this is a completely healthy situation, but no matter how flawed or imperfect the situation may be, I admire the mother's devotion and love for these children. I would personally go crazy under the same circumstances.
My favorite of the children, and the one I admire the most, is Anthony. I think he should be 24 this year.
Watch the film and tell me what you think.
(sorry if there are extreme typos in this post. i typed this entire thing once already and then the blog page lost it, so i had to write it all over again. I'm way too tired and lazy to read through it yet another time...) ;)
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Anthony died a couple of years ago. He finally decided he could not bear any more treatment, and he died at home. Susan couldn't get herself to clean out his room. They got a new house from "Extreme Home Makeover," and those folks cleaned out Anthony's room. Susan and the whole family took his death very very hard.
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