I was reminded yesterday of a family incident. 2 years ago my parents had their 50th Wedding Anniversary. My sisters felt obligated (via guilt) to take charge of the party and arrangements. There was a lot of time and thought put into things like food, decorations, invitations, etc. What did I bring to the table? A video of course. What the hell else would I come up with other than what I do for a living? So I arranged to interview my parents in the studio. I lit it, shot it, asked the questions, then made an intern do the initial pass of the edit before I went in to finalize it. I put some serious time and energy into this piece.
At the party itself, I was ribbed quite hard for not helping or doing anything for the event. My mom pestered me to see the video early. I refused. She thought I made something embarrassing or worse, something of such a poor quality that it would horrify her friends.
Then the video played. The first time. Then the 2nd time. Then a 3rd, and 4th. Each time, one of my sisters conspicuously would leave the room. I made my mom cry. Her sisters all cried. My dad told me for the 2nd time in my life he was proud of me. My sisters were mad at me.
And that goodwill lasted about a week. I was still asked when I was going to get a ‘real‘ job.
“So why do you fill my sorrow, with the words you’ve borrowed, From the only place you’ve known? If it means nothing to you, why do you sing with me at all?”
― Damien Rice
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