The Pursuit of Happyness

As you might imagine, I don't get out to the movies much lately, so we've become even stronger Netflix loyals than what we used to be. Turns out that's a good thing, because otherwise movie cinemas would have to stock the theater with tissues whenever I go to a showing. I've turn into a veritable tear machine after becoming a Mom. Oh who am I kidding, I've always been a tear machine!

Anyway, this time the movie deserving of my tears, MANY of them, was The Pursuit of Happyness. It's funny because due to Netflix I end up watching movies once all the hype of new releases has more than subsided, and I get to re-discover what all the hype was about. In this case it was very well deserved. The movie was just fantastic, and Will Smith's performance was pretty damn amazing for a guy who started off doing comedies and end-of-the-world sci fi thrillers.

As we watched the commentary (which is a great by-product of having to do Netflix all the time) I had to agree with the man whom the story was written after (Chris Gardner). He talked about how everyone always refers to this movie as well as his life story as a "rags to riches" story, but it's so much more than that. At the root of it it's a story about a Dad who really really really wanted to be there for his son every day of his life, in a bad way. It hit so close to home - working hard every day and how that takes you away from spending time with your kids, and how you're always trying to run to day care to pick them up before they start missing you. Every time in the movie Will Smith went to pick up his son at day care and picked him up and gave him one of those huge hugs I could not help but sob uncontrollably. Every time he would peek inside the day care after having left his son and felt a sadness you just can't shake, it would break my heart. It was also sooo sad to see his struggle to make ends meet financially, that also hit a little bit too close to home. Jose kept saying to me why are you crying so much it's a happy story at the end, he ends up becoming super wealthy. But all I could think of is those people who CONTINUE to struggle every day financially and always have that burden weighing them down. Yes I am one of those people who is currently struggling financially, but still, I probably shouldn't complain knowing I make more money than 95% of the world. If I live under this much stress trying to pay the bills every month, I can only imagine people who are in the position Will Smith was, who bought into some crazy dream thinking it would pay off the bills but not seeing it materialize, who end up jobless and homeless and all alone. But through and through having his son be happy and provided for was what kept him going, and I get teary eyed thinking about the relevancy of the movie in my life, and I'm sure in anyone else's life.

Which is why I was so happy for my friend Tom going to Less Than Full Time (LTFT). And I'm fully supportive of him despite that fact that typically LTFT is used by people who either have sick family members or young kids. I think it's unfair to think you can only use LTFT in those circumstances and I applaud his courage to do it despite what that might mean for his career progression. For now I'm saving it until a time I feel like I desperately need it, like I just can't make it work anymore working full time (which will probably be after baby #2). But I will definitely take advantage of it at some point.