Okay, I’ll admit it. When my girls were little, I used movies as a babysitter. I can recite almost every line from almost every Disney/Pixar/DreamWorks movie. I can’t tell you what any of the scenes look like because I was busy cleaning toilet bowls, cooking, or doing the laundry while my girls sat motionless in their enchantment. I can, however, tell you that out of all the movies they watched, my all-time favorite is Shrek. The banter between Shrek and Donkey is just too hysterical for words. It takes a lot to make me laugh, so by admitting that I crack up just thinking about some of the lines from the movie is a testament to the movie’s ingenious humor. Let’s take a look at my favorite scene:
Shrek: Ogres are like
onions.
Donkey: They stink?
Shrek: Yes. No.
Donkey: Oh, they make you cry.
Shrek: No.
Donkey: Oh, you leave em out in the sun, they get all brown, start sproutin’
little white hairs.
Shrek: NO. Layers. Onions have layers. Ogres have layers. Onions have layers.
You get it? We both have layers.
Donkey: Oh, you both have layers. Oh. You know, not everybody like onions.
onions.
Donkey: They stink?
Shrek: Yes. No.
Donkey: Oh, they make you cry.
Shrek: No.
Donkey: Oh, you leave em out in the sun, they get all brown, start sproutin’
little white hairs.
Shrek: NO. Layers. Onions have layers. Ogres have layers. Onions have layers.
You get it? We both have layers.
Donkey: Oh, you both have layers. Oh. You know, not everybody like onions.
Shrek and Donkey refer to onions two other times in the movie, and the meaning of the onion metaphor becomes obvious:
Donkey:
Shrek, remember when you said that ogres have layers?
Shrek, remember when you said that ogres have layers?
Shrek:Oh,aye?
Donkey: Well, I have a bit of a confession to make: donkeys don’t have layers. We wear our fear right there on our sleeves.
Donkey: Well, I have a bit of a confession to make: donkeys don’t have layers. We wear our fear right there on our sleeves.
Donkey: You’re so wrapped up in layers onion boy, you’re afraid of your own feelings!
…and that’s it right there in a nutshell. That is why you can just call me Shrek. I am so wrapped up in layers that I am afraid to be honest in my little corner of the worldwide web. I want to be. I think I have accidentally stumbled on to something with these puny little entries I write. I think it’s pretty good odds that out of the five or so posts that I have also posted on BlogHer, their publishers saw fit to feature those posts on their website. I wonder what could happen if I allowed myself to peel back the layers and really write about the things I want to write about without worrying about what others might think. For several years I have been waiting for the right time. When will it be? I am just a few months away from turning 50 years old, for heaven’s sake! What am I waiting for? I can’t let fear hold me back any longer. NOW is the time.
If you are interested in following along, subscribe to an app called “Feedly.” You can go HERE, and also download the app on your phone. Just enter this in the search bar, and then hit “follow”: http://sussexcirclemusings.blogspot.com. (Make sure you start with the http part.) You can just click on the app and all new posts will be there. I have some doozies that I am planning to write that you don’t want to miss. They might include the following topics/events/experiences:
*a friend’s suicide
*the termination of a pregnancy
*the lifelong ramifications of interacting with a dirty old man
*enduring the wrath of a jealous “friend”
…and so many more.
(Wow…I feel great! Just by writing down the subject matters, I have already begun to peel off the layers.)