It's Nothing Like the Movies :(

The first time I visited my dad in the psyche ward, I was a little bit disappointed. After I had answered a few basic questions and was granted access, I expected to see Jack Nicholson or Brad Pitt hanging around, getting the other patients all riled up – basically causing mischief of some sort. Maybe a sane Bruce Willis stuck there when he was supposed to be out in society collecting information to save his world from the future. I expected to see people standing still, drooling and staring blankly into space because they had been medicated for reasons they really only make up in the movies. Nothing was what I had expected. It was all so…normal. People keeping to themselves really. Reading, watching TV, doing laundry and taking a cigarette break while politely nodding and exchanging courtesies with other patients and visitors.

Now don’t get me wrong, my visits with my dad had their…um…quirks! There was one lady who was lovely. She adored my dad and we all had some really good conversations about lots of different things. But…she really loved her sweater dresses (80’s style – big chunky sweaters belted around the middle with huge shoulder pads)! Only…I’m not sure she realized that a regular old fashioned sweater wasn’t the same thing as the sweater dresses from her youth. It was really hard maintaining eye contact, especially on the days she decided not to wear her lady underthings. I was always worrying that my concentration would slip and I’d look. I mean, it had to be rude to look and I was horrified in a weak moment when I let my eyes drift and I panicked - oh shit…I can’t believe I looked…did she see me look? Should I pretend I didn’t look? *groan* - what is the proper etiquette for moments like that?

One afternoon we were sitting in the common room (really just a TV surrounded by couches) watching something and not really talking, sort of just letting the time pass when out of the corner of my eye I saw a very young, beautiful woman walk into the room. She was stunning and confident and I couldn’t look away, my jaw had dropped. She was also stark naked. That was the only time I witnessed all hell break loose. She started to yell and scream at the nurses and guards when they asked her to go back to her room. The situation escalated and it took 4 security guards to subdue her. 4! And all I could think about during it all was that I have never looked that good naked and I drove home completely absorbed in my own self pity, silently wishing that I looked as good as she did.

And while it was eye-opening and refreshing to see how normal it all was with just a touch of weirdness, it was still disappointing to discover that my beloved movies don’t really give you the real picture. Fingers crossed that this is the only anomaly between movies and real life. They mimic real life the rest of the time right?