Showing posts with label Museum of Tolerance. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Museum of Tolerance. Show all posts

Thursday, August 07, 2008

decisions

I am in the Brisbane airport, waiting. I was really impressed with the Museum of Tolerance. It was very interactive and powerful. We heard a Holocaust Survivor who was at Auschwitz speak (I can't remember her name but will look it up and post later) and I really loved the Holocaust exhibit. It was very emotional. You get a credit card sized plastic card with a person's name on it that was an actual person who lives in Europe during that time and then you get a little info about them at the beginning. At the end of the exhibit you find out whether that person lived or died. Mine died as her mother watched her go into the gas chamber. I started crying when I found out. It was very moving, the whole thing. If you're ever in L.A. I highly recommend this museum!

Anyway so I was thinking the other day about how I always say that I don't like making decisions, particularly when they involve other people, but also just my own decisions. I have often said that it probably stems from being forced to choose between parents when I was 8 years old in my custody trial. But while I was in L.A. I had a sort of eureka moment. I realized that of the few guys I've dated in the years since my divorce, with the exception of one, I was the one who broke up with each of them. What I do though is second guess my decision. There's always the desire to have someone say, no please I'll do anything, please don't leave... but that's not been my experience and then I end up sad and feeling sort of betrayed. Which is ironic since I'm the one who wanted to leave the situation or relationship in the first place.

But what I just realized was the in every situation leaving was the right thing to do, and it was a good healthy decision for me and my life. I didn't "stay" too long in the relationship (which makes leaving even harder because we are creatures of habit). So I got to thinking that maybe I am actually good at making decisions. The decision I made to live with my dad was a good one, and the judge empowered me as a young child by listening to my opinion on where I wanted to live. Anyway so this was just interesting for me because I think it will help me trust in my instincts and not second guess myself so much.

Sunday, August 03, 2008

getting ready

Copyright (c) 2006 Wendee Holtcamp
Pale grass in West Texas. I took this photo while driving between Guadalupe Mountains State Park and the McDonald Observatory for my
Top of Texas article for Texas Parks & Wildlife Magazine.



I can't believe I leave in just 1 day. Where has the time gone? I plan to visit the Museum of Tolerance this time when I'm in L.A. en route to Australia. I meant to go there the last 2 times I went through L.A., but the first visit it was closed for renovation and then last time we learned you needed advanced reservations certain times of the year. Well this time we got advance reservations! It was featured in the movie Freedom Writers with Hilary Swank, which was a fantastic movie. My maternal grandfather was a Russian Jew, and though I never knew him, I have always been interested in that aspect of history. I don't know a lot about it, but it's a sad part of our world's history - the Holocaust that is. I also may get to see my midwife, Shelly Girard, who I haven't seen since I moved from L.A. to Houston almost 10 years ago!

Not much else going on at the moment, just packing up and making sure I have everything I need and that I don't go over weight limits - which I may well do! I hope not.