Family – Page 20 – The Merfett

Journal Day 2

February 27, 2014February 27, 2014 The Merfett

This week’s prompt:

We all have songs that really mean something to us. Often just hearing it can take us right back to that place and we are able to re-experience the memory associated with the song. Sometimes good, sometimes bad, but either way music has the ability to really draw things out of us and evoke deep emotion. Choose a song that has a particular meaning to you. Tell the story of the memory associated with the song, sharing as much detail as you can. Take us there; let us experience it with you.

Hm. At first I thought of our wedding song…Harry Connick Jr singing It Had to Be You.

[edit: I totally got our wedding song wrong. #wifefail #goodcatchmerfman]

But I sort of went down relationship road last week…

So. Something different!

From ages 12 – 23 I trained and showed horses all over the US. I would spend most of my evenings, weekends and entire summers riding and showing. I have so many memories of long drives, late nights, very early mornings and so much sweat and make up mixed with arena dust. I credit those as some of the most formative years of my life. I literally grew up showing. It taught me so much about being strong and humble and tough and dedicated.

My Sophomore year of college at UC Riverside I was living with my trainer and her family. On the days I had afternoon classes I would wake up, help around the ranch and ride before showering and heading to school. I was balancing life as a college student with the daily activity of a ranch.

That summer I was alone on the ranch for a week or two, while everyone else was back in Tennessee for a big show. Most of the horses were gone showing, but there were still several boarded horses and babies in training. Each morning and evening I had to feed, and clean all the stalls. In the afternoons I would ride or turn horses out for exercise.

Every few days the outdoor pens needed to be cleaned. I would grab my iPod, headphones, the muck-cart with the one flat tire and 2×4 handle, a fork and head to the stalls. I would try to wait until after 3pm when the Santa Ana breeze would be coming through and the relentless Riverside sun would feel slightly less intense.

I was super into Yellowcard that summer. Specifically the “Ocean Avenue” album and song.

“Ocean Avenue”

There’s a place off Ocean Avenue
Where I used to sit and talk with you
We were both 16 and it felt so right
Sleeping all day, staying up all night
Staying up all nightThere’s a place on the corner of Cherry Street
We would walk on the beach in our bare feet
We were both 18 and it felt so right
Sleeping all day, staying up all night
Staying up all nightIf I could find you now things would get better
We could leave this town and run forever
Let your waves crash down on me and take me away

There’s a piece of you that’s here with me
It’s everywhere I go, it’s everything I see
When I sleep, I dream and it gets me by
I can make believe that you’re here tonight
That you’re here tonight

If I could find you now things would get better
We could leave this town and run forever
I know somewhere, somehow we’ll be together
Let your waves crash down on me and take me away

I remember the look in your eyes
When I told you that this was goodbye
You were begging me not tonight
Not here, not now
We’re looking up at the same night sky
And keep pretending the sun will not rise
Be together for one more night
Somewhere, somehow

If I could find you now things would get better
We could leave this town and run forever
I know somewhere, somehow we’ll be together
Let your waves crash down on me and take me away

The irony being, that I was daydreaming of life at the beach, while I was sweating through my starched jeans and sports-bra in the middle of the Inland Empire.

I only had a few albums on my iPod, so I would listen to my favorite songs on repeat. Mostly Yellowcard and The All American Rejects with a little Green Day thrown in.

To this day I can sing all those songs word for word because I spent hours alone with them in my ears. The background to my thoughts and the monotonous activity of cleaning stalls. Walk. Scoop. Dump. Repeat.

Today, when I hear those opening cords to “Ocean Avenue” I’m sucked back to the memory of callused hands and the ripe scent of horse mixed with sweet Timothy hay.

Completing the daily duties of ranch life leaves you a lot of time alone in your own head. I’ve always been a thinker – at any given moment if you ask what I’m thinking about, I’ll tell you a minimum of 5 things. Serious. Ask Merfman – he knows. Cleaning stalls, preparing feed, blanketing, riding – it all gives you time to play your head movies. Sometimes on repeat.

That summer was one I spent thinking about my future. I wasn’t happy at UCR. I knew I wanted to work in the Film/TV business and I needed a more hands-on education than I was getting at Riverside. I had checked my credits and I was a few short of being able to transfer so I would be there for another 3 quarters. I needed to start working on college applications. I knew I would apply at USC and UCLA. Chapman became a much later consideration (thankfully).

Those days in the heat of the IE summer were dry and routine. But they were refreshing also. Falling into bed at the end of a full day, with all your work behind you – you knew you had accomplished something. Even knowing that tomorrow, you’d be up before the sun, to do it all over again.

Family

Journal Day 1

February 20, 2014February 18, 2014 The Merfett

I’ve never been a journal/diary girl. I’m a list maker.

Over the years I’ve gone in and out of practice of writing to WRITE. This place is probably the largest collection of my words. Well, not including my Inbox ;)

When one of my favorite blogs, Sometimes Sweet – brought back her Journal Days I felt like I needed to participate. As much as I love sharing stories and Monthly updates about Riley – my life is more than just those moments. And I should be true to that stuff too.

On Sundays she posts the weekly prompt and Thursdays we share our responses.

Here’s this week:

Everyone has a time in their life they view as a crossroad. Sometimes you can see it as it’s happening, and you’re able to choose one way or another. Other times you may not realize you’re there until you look back, and see what a turning point it really was. This week, write about a time you view as a marker in your life; a distinct place where things changed, for better or worse.

I’m sure I’ll find myself at several crossroads in my life, but the big one that I’ve been thinking about lately was back in 2010. I had been working as a temp at Walt Disney studios for a few months, and the Executive I was working for at the time was interviewing to hire a full time Assistant. I had a good relationship with the department I was working in, and I felt like I was a good fit for the position. I had talked to him about staying on, but I also expressed that I would like to explore the idea of going freelance and working on a Feature Film. We were in the beginning stages of prepping the movie, PROM. We had been interviewing and hiring crew, and just starting to lay the groundwork for getting the movie off the ground. My experience with the Studio helped me greatly with knowing the ins and outs of who to talk to about what.

I decided to take a leap and really focus on working freelance. I was making the choice to leave the comfortable life of health benefits and “regular hours” in favor of getting to see filmmaking from another side. I was fortunate to be hired at the Producer’s Assistant on PROM where I learned real hands-on skills.

Another benefit? I met my husband on that movie.

And taking that freelance job, led me to my next job, and my next job and my next job.

I have this life now, because I made that choice back in 2010. I fully believe that everything happens for a reason, and there’s a whole other crossroad story Merfman could tell…but our lives intersected at a very specific time on a movie set that summer. I don’t think I was in control of my life as much as I wandered down one road and not the other. Would Merfman and I have met some other day? Maybe. But it was all part of the plan for us to meet then, so we could have this life now. Bonus: we made a tiny human too!

Family

Overnight Trip to San Diego

February 18, 2014 The Merfett

My BFF from high school is moving to South Korea – TOMORROW. She’ll be back, I hope :)

We made a quick trip down to San Diego to spend some time with her and a few other friends. It was a great weekend with awesome weather, some holiday traffic and a pretty funny story about Riley being attacked by an inflatable alligator at 5:30 in the morning :)