Shoulder Pads, Perms, Rick Springfield, Oh My.
A couple of weeks ago, this guy hit my Prius. My BRAND NEW Prius. He didn’t do a lot of damage, he just hit my bumper. We pulled over to the side of the road and started to exchange information. He gave me his insurance card, driver’s license and told me his name, I gave him my insurance card and my license and the joy of watching me pet my bumper and tell it “you’re going to be okay, you hear me?”
Last week, I brought my Prius to the body shop and proceeded to rent a car. Apparently, I didn’t notice the time machine I’d entered while walking through the doors of Enterprise, as when I got my car I discovered:
1. It had no electric windows.
2. No keyless entry or exit
and
3. The Lindbergh Baby
Later that day, I went to pick up Phoebe at the bus stop where she would be arriving from paradise or as she calls it, “camp”. As I watched the bus pull up, I couldn’t help but imagine all the living room furniture I can now no longer afford to buy so that my daughter could pet a horse three days a week and then wondered how she would react to riding in her new “no frills” environment.
When we got inside the car, she buckled herself into her booster seat, looked at the handle and asked me,
PHOEBE: How do I open the window?
JESSICA: Turn the handle.
She then looked me, looked at the handle, looked at me again and said:
PHOEBE: What?
I then went ahead and gave her a demonstration and when I was through she asked me:
PHOEBE: Where did this car come from?
JESSICA: The 80’s.
PHOEBE: Is that a store?
to which I responded:
JESSICA: No, it’s the worst part of my life and now thanks to you I have an overwhelming urge to wear shoulder pads.
PHOEBE: What are shoulder pads?
JESSICA THOUGHT: The fashion industry’s version of a penis.
what I actually said:
JESSICA: Things women used to wear because they thought it would get them higher paying jobs and if you want to know what a job is, today, it’s something that pays very little and comes with no health insurance.
Well, this is MY Reality…..
Back in 2004, in the span of two weeks, I asked for a divorce (and received a resounding, you got it!), lost a very lucrative paying job and my vibrator died. Sad part is, to this day, I’m not sure which one of those events upset me the most.
After my ex moved out, all my “local” friends quickly disappeared, leaving me with no support system. My entire family and all my lifelong friends, lived back East and so at the age of 39, as the single mother of a then 18 month old little girl, I had to start my life from scratch.
When my daughter turned 3, my ex began to take her every other weekend. From 9am Friday morning till 4:30pm Sunday, I was completely and utterly alone to the point where if I’d died, the dog would’ve have chewed off both my arms before anyone would have even noticed I was missing.
Then I started blogging and vlogging and my whole world turned around. I made friends, that to this day I’ve never met and some that I have. They don’t care that I’m divorced and have broken every Jewish law by letting go of my housekeeper. They are happy for my successes and cry with me when things don’t go as I’d hoped. They are there for me now and will be there for me tomorrow and the next day. Some because they want to be and others for a small monthly stipend.
I have started a whole new career as a writer and video maker that I love and that makes me want to get out of bed in the morning. My work has gotten me noticed by such well know companies as Seventh Generation. Ouidad and Kodak and even landed me the opportunity to find love for the first time in my life, which brings me to #projectfindahusband.
#projectfindahusband began with me asking any 40 of my Twitter followers to donate $1 a piece so that I could join Match.com. What I ended up with is several people giving me enough money so that I could join for two months and after 5 plus years of being on and off dating sites, where men used screen names such as “GoldenLips” & “Luckytohaveme”, I have found someone that I can actually envision, possibly, maybe, spending the rest of my life with. Which is much more than I can say than when I made this video:
Where this relationship will go, where my career as a writer/video maker will ultimately take me, I have no idea the journey has only just begun. All I know is that if I can inspire even one woman who struggles on a daily basis, who thinks that all is lost, to believe that everything is possible, well then it will have all been worth it.
ONE MORE THING:
(This is my “audition” for “projectmom casting“. I decided to share my story because I want to reach out and let all those single moms and dads know that good things don’t always come in “twos”. I have climbed a mountain and come back down the other side only to find a peace and happiness I never knew possible. There are many out there who are just beginning their ascent and I want them to know they can do it. Please, if you would, leave a comment on this post, as this is one of the ways the production company will decide whether or not to give a chance to meet with them in person and the chance to continue to share my story. Thank you.)
