Husband Clothes

I’m so sad. I just realized something that broke my heart.

My husband and I always laugh at my neighbor (at him, not with him) because he keeps junk everywhere. He designs movie sets, so he has tons of props–desks, chairs, baskets, typewriters from the 1950’s, Christmas decorations, Hanukkah decorations, Kwanzaa decorations, you name it, he’s got it. Since we’ve moved into this building, he’s had lots of things piled up in the nice grassy area at the left of our apartment building. That has always irritated the other tenants. We just try hard to stay away from that area and therefore don’t really notice it.

This guy has had every job imaginable–soldier, a school janitor, and more. But it was always his dream to work on movies. So, several years ago, he and is wife moved cross-country to Hollywood, and he achieved his dream! For several years he’s been designing movie sets (hence his need for the props he piles beside our building). Last year, however, work became scarce for him. With no work in 3 months, my neighbor needed to find funds or move back to New York, which would obviously mark the end of his dream.

Two months ago, he had a big yard sale. He sold lots and lots of his movie memorabilia and several props he’s collected over the past 30 years. He was very relieved because the money he made was enough swing it here by Hollywood for a few more months.

Well, just last weekend, we noticed that the irritating pile of junk on the left side of the apartment building has grown ten-fold. I thought, “My gosh. It looks like a used furniture store out here…” I started to get irritated like the other neighbors. Then I went a little closer to the pile and saw that each piece of furniture had a price tag. And it hit me–my poor neighbor is trying to sell his props. All of them. The ones he’s worked years to collect to build his business. Now he needs to sell them to pay his rent.

This made me so sad. It makes me remember my own hard times when everything, even a picture frame, seemed like a luxury. It also made me think of two movies on this topic. And while movies don’t pay the rent, they can sure relieve and inspire the soul. For any readers who seriously need an escape and a little inspiration, I strongly recommend the following movies–if you think YOU’RE having hard times, wait till you see these guys:

1. The Pursuit of Happyness starring Will Smith (the title is spelled incorrectly–that’s not a typo) and the sweetest little boy ever, though I don’t know his name, he’s a marvelous little actor. MAN this is a good movie about how the human spirit can somehow keep on going even when doors keep closing and closing…and then before you know it, things start looking up.
2. Cinderella Man starring Russell Crowe: Such a bad title for such an incredibly engaging and inspiring movie. It’s about family, love, hardtimes, and risks. It tells the TRUE story of a family who made it through the Great Depression. Note: I got so emotional during this movie that I had to pause it and find the ending on the Internet–pathetic, but true testimony as to how incredibly awesome this movie is!

This entry was posted on Monday, October 13th, 2008 at 10:10 am and is filed under Jobs & Unemployment, Movies, Moviestars, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.