A Script I Could Never Have Dreamed Up

As I write and edit the 100 story frames for my book, A Storyboard Life, I’ve been re-reading my journals from the relevant years. It’s like jumping into a Tardis.

This week, I’ve been spending time back in 2003.

I was living on the edge of Washington DC at the time, raising two kids as a single parent and navigating the feasts and famines that come with life as a freelancer in the world of film and television. (I was going to write that I was living on the ‘outskirts’ of Washington DC but, for so many reasons, ‘living on the edge’ is a far better descriptive for those years.)

Through work and professional friend connections, I was sometimes the recipient of invitations to interesting embassy events. One such opportunity was an invitation to see a photography exhibit at the Embassy of the Czech Republic. As a lover of photographs and of taking photographs, this was one I didn’t want to miss.

October 1, 2003 – Had a great time at the Czech Embassy photography opening last night – a lively group of people to speak with, many of whom were younger film types. Now, having seen these photos, I want to go to Prague!

It would take me nineteen years, but it did happen. In 2022, I traveled to Prague to spend Christmas with my son and his fiancée at their home there, seeing him for the first time in four years after having been separated by a global pandemic.

Every single word in that sentence shocks me. My 2003 self could never have imagined that a global pandemic would separate me from my son for four long years. Nor, to be quite honest, would 2003 me have imagined he would have a fiancée and be living with her in Prague! 😆

This is why I’m not a fiction writer – real life is so surprising and filled with moments my imagination would never have dreamed up!