"Everything will be all right..."

18 December 2022: Another essential holiday re-watch for me: Call the Midwife's 2015 holiday special. I remember watching it when it aired on Christmas day nearly seven years ago and just smiling and sobbing. Watched it again today and Sister Julienne's line to the panicking Iris--"Everything will be all right"--once again had me tearing up. (Every time, I want to believe she was saying it to me, too. Ha!) When she tells Iris, still mourning the baby she lost 22 years ago, and wondering how she can love another child, "Love is not going to be halved. But doubled," the tears just flowed. (It's also a really important Patsy and Delia episode.)

Hitting "submit"

27 June 2020: Just hit submit on a conference abstract for a paper about Call the Midwife that I've been kicking around in my head for years now. Let's see if it gets accepted, but it feels good to get it out there, at least in abstract form.

Also feeling good about a long phone conversation with Vogel which was ostensibly about getting her to look the abstract over, but as our conversations often do, was also about a million other things.

Call the Midwife: Season 9

29 March 2020: I feel like this beloved show coming back tonight is giving me a bit of what we all need: powerful, compassionate, competent capable women doing their best to save and improve lives.

"the most extraordinary thing..."

2 February 2018: “Because I’ve hardly ever felt comfortable anywhere. And when I have, it’s been with you. It has been the most extraordinary thing. I felt small. And in my proper place and not at risk of breaking anything precious.” –Chummy, to Peter, in the first season finale of Call the Midwife.

The always excellent Extra Hot Great reminded me of this episode, as Tara brought it forward to Canon consideration. Tara played the clip above and, as I listened to it this morning, I felt myself tearing up at Chummy’s vulnerability here, as she (temporarily) pushes Peter away to keep what has been so wonderful—their relationship, the comfort she feels with him—from being tainted. That feeling of comfort is just everything, isn’t it?

And her comment about feeling “small” with him (a reference to her height and general discomfort fitting into places) is such smart writing. The show’s creators will make it clear that they really aren’t as interested in the personal lives of their main characters as they are in telling the stories of their work in Poplar, but that makes these kinds of finely-rendered moments all the more important (they have to do a lot of work) and precious.

So starting the day thinking about the gift that is this show? Not bad!

[Another reason to check out this week’s EHG? It discusses a show I love almost as much: One Day at a Time. Oh—and a fun Game Time! And even more hilarious banter than usual…]

Christmas 2017

25 December 2017: "The hands of the Almighty are so often to be found at the ends of our own arms." --Sister Monica Joan, on this year's Call the Midwife holiday special.

Another terrific holiday special capping off a pretty darn nice Christmas Day.

It's back!

2 April 2017: "No one is ever as alone as they imagine." --"Older Jenny," narrating tonight's episode of Call the Midwife.

Lord, how I love this show. And this particular line stuck out to me on a Sunday night, a night where I tend to feel a bit lonely. But today was also a good day in other ways, one that I spent around some people who mean a lot to me. So yeah...it's good to remember those words above for those moments when I might feel a bit blue.

Listening...

Like I wrote yesterday, I needed to do some thinking (and last-minute consulting--thanks, Jane!) before deciding on my 2017 blog theme. I like the idea of continuing to push for a post per day, especially if I could somehow, I don't know, be a better person when it was all done? (Lofty goal!) I think it worked a bit last year. I don't feel like a worse person, at least. So I'll give it another go.

My theme for this year will be "listening"--every day I'll post about something interesting/surprising that I heard (or overheard) that day. It doesn't have to be the "best" or even necessarily good, though I do like focusing on the positive. And, until I get a couple of weeks of posts under my feet, I think I'll keep the category broad (including podcasts and music). But I do want to focus on words (not just sounds).

I like the idea of just listening more and being mindful of other people's words. I do that for a living (more or less), but most of those are the words of people I have never met--writers and such. This year is looking like it's going to be a rough one in some ways, so listening--really listening--can't hurt.

Here we go...

1 January 2017: I spent a lot of time yesterday thinking about what I would post if I did end up going with "listening" as a theme. Unfortunately, by the time I started thinking about it, I couldn't remember the exact specifics of anything I had heard earlier that day. I spent a lovely and charming morning with Jane and her family, which included comfortable words of kindness and love, but--as happens so often with ordinary kindness and love--they dropped out of my head, leaving only the feeling and not the specific words.

Later that day, re-watching Call the Midwife for the millionth time, I heard one of my favorite bits of writing from that show, a pretty close encapsulation of what I want my blog to do, in part:

“Sometimes, there's a brightness and a richness in the moment. A ripeness that simply says, ‘Taste this’ and calls us to partake without fear or any thought of punishment. It is the fruit of our experience and, in its heart, it bares the seed of all our hopes. Take the joy, take all it gives. Life is sweet and it is ours. As is our right to love and relish every moment.”

I had heard it before, but so loved hearing it again. So we'll make that snippet of my beloved show the first "listening" entry of the year.

Call the Midwife DVDs

24 May 2016: Allow me to gush again about how much I adore this show. I mean, I love it so much that I bought the Season 5 DVDs--and I haven't bought a season of DVDs in years, I think. But these are the original, unedited episodes (PBS cuts their episodes down) and the completist in me needed them. I watched three episodes yesterday. So lovely. So worth it.

Call the Midwife

3 April 2016: Today's good thing is the return of one of my favorite TV shows, Call the Midwife. Sundays can make me a bit blue, especially Sunday evenings, so having this lovely show to look forward to it just wonderful.

The Fall

Holy cow, did I love this show! This article helps explain part of the reason why. Also, Gillian Anderson is amazing amazing amazing. Just wow.

So many TV shows that have thrilled me recently have been from Britain: Call the Midwife, In the Flesh, and now this. Keep it up over there, UK folks!

Previously.tv and Rectify

After a long wait, the folks behind Extra Hot Great, one of my all-time favorite podcasts, and, (before that, one of my favorite websites) have started up their new venture: previously.tv. And it's pretty amazing--tons of great writing about television. Even though the site just launched on Monday, they've been collecting writing for some time. Explore a bit and you'll see some great pieces from earlier this year. Check out, for instance, this lovely piece about Andy on Parks and Recreation, written back in February. Or this one on Chummy from Call the Midwife. Both are parts of a "Characters We Love" series.

Which leads me to my next point: you all need to be watching Rectify. What an amazing show. So much is said through gestures, single images, the way a scene is laid out. The people behind this show get everything right. And of course, previously.tv has some smart writing on it. I just finished watching the episode that first aired a week ago and it blew me away, especially the last scene. Sarah D. Bunting says it best: "Don't let the pace fool you; Rectify is the unlaziest storytelling on TV right now."