To Olive...
It wasn't all bad...
Dear Olive,
I'm so proud of you and what you did at the Little Miss Sunshine pageant! But not only that, I think you helped all of us think a little harder about what it means to be a family. Moreover, a family in American society. Me and your father have always wanted to maintain a relatively normal, middle-class lifestyle and his work in motivational speaking is a perfect example of this. Your father believed that positive thinking, optimism, discipline, and perfection are all one needs to succeed in this world. I myself love the idea, but realize that things are never this easy. I think it took being rejected for your father to realize this as well. I want you to see that on the other side of this picture perfect ideal can be found our reality. Our reality includes an addicted grandfather who no longer is with us, a gay brother/uncle who so strongly felt failure that he wanted to end his life, a teenage boy also struggling with failure, and financial insecurity that looms over the future of the entire family. It is important to understand that although these struggles go directly against what it means to be a successful family in American society, they are struggles that EVERYONE goes through. Hiding from this fact only makes the struggle that much longer and arduous. It is in your relationships with your family and friends that some reprieve can come from these struggles. American society would like you to think otherwise through the projection of ideals that are impossible to upkeep. You helped us all to realize that. It is in acknowledging the truth behind the lies about what a "normal" family is these days that one can then actually attempt to make real change in their life. So for that, thank you Olive!
Love,
Mom