Guess where we went yesterday? Yes! She has completed her biggest homework task ever from Dr. G. We couldn't even say the name of this restaurant for the longest time. We brought our good friends with us to mark this amazing milestone and to make it more fun.
As soon as they gave out the kids menus and crayons, she borrowed the red one from her brother. Apparently, the orange or the yellow that were next to her were not good enough to make a huge X over the chicken nuggets. She really needed that red crayon since that is the food she ate the night of the food poisoning.
So, after violently Xing out the nuggets, she ordered eggs and pancakes that came with bacon and sausage. She did not touch the meat since she is super against fast food meat and the way they treat the animals. Can't argue with her about that, so I ate them :) She ate 2 out of 3 pancakes and a couple bites of eggs. I don't think the goal was to have to eat everything on her plate. I am so proud that she was able to get there and order something and cope. When we arrived, she said her anxiety was a 5. When we left it was down to a 1! 
Before we went to Denny's, She and I had a girls only trip to the movies. This was our homework from the psychiatrist. She wanted her to see the movie Life of Pi. I have never read the book, but I have heard a bit about the story in the past.
After she told us to go and see it, she cringed for a moment and said to me that she may not want to see some of the scenes where the animals are killed by the tiger. She piped right up and said "that's okay, it's the circle of life." I love my kid! And yes, the Lion King was one of our favorite movies when she was little.
I will never forget a school trip to the movies when she was in kindergarten. I accompanied her class to go see a Disney movie called Eight Below. In the movie there is a really sad scene in which a sled dog dies. Her little friend looks at her and says something like: "don't worry, he is just sleeping." My child, who was only 4, then proceeds to tell her: "Isabella, he is not sleeping, he is dead. It's the circle of life." Isabella has no idea what the heck she is talking about. She chooses to believe he is sleeping and I tell her to let Isabella think whatever she wants.
Life of Pi is a visually stunning movie. Although, I did not realize there was so much of a religion theme about the movie. I didn't know the whole premise of the movie is how this Indian man is telling his story to a writer about how he found God. There was so much symbolism that led me to draw my own ideas. Definitely not the ideas about God and religion that I was supposed to draw upon, but I am not a church going woman and I easily find my own interpretation.
Since we are there because of her psychiatrist, I see all sorts of symbolism that is related to her and her phobia and all that we have been through. If you have not seen the movie, it is about a teenage boy named Pi who is shipwrecked on a small boat with a very large tiger. His family was leaving India in search of a better life with their zoo animals when the ship sinks.
After the tiger kills some other animals that managed to get in this small boat with them, Pi is lost and helpless and struggling to figure out how to cope with his situation. Of course, I am thinking of us moving to FL and her trying to find her place.
The rest of the movie is about the struggle between the tiger and Pi. He has to figure out how to stay alive with this tiger who is threatening to kill him.
He makes himself a raft that he ties to the boat where the tiger is. Pi stays on the raft and works hard to feed the tiger with fish and catch rain water for him. He struggles to keep this tiger alive. He could have let him drown at one point, but he continues to keep him alive. This is when I make my analogy. Pi, is my daughter, and the Tiger is her phobia.
One day, they wake up to find themselves on a strange island covered in algae. It is a beautiful island where he thinks they can live. He soon discovers that they can not stay there when he sees the tiger running back to the boat. Pi realizes the island is carnivorous and it may kill them. The Tiger patiently waits in the boat for Pi to return and they head out to the sea again.
I relate this island to her new middle school. A beautiful place she was so excited to go to back in August when we thought she was all better. A place she decided was unsafe and she found her tiger waiting for her yet again...
They are now weak and dying from dehydration. Pi manages to train the tiger and they are now able to be on the boat together. He is now able to sit with the tiger's head on his lap. He cries and tells the tiger, that he has grown to love, that they are dying.
At this point of the movie there are tears streaming down my cheeks. This is the moment that really pulls it all together for me. This tiger is just like her phobia that she has worked so hard to hang onto for the past two years. She became so close to her phobia a few months ago that I didn't see how her life could get better. It was killing the girl I knew.
The next scene of the movie is when they wash ashore on land. The tiger jumps out of the boat and starts walking towards the forest. The tiger pauses, and Pi is desperately wanting to say goodbye to him. He is expecting the tiger to turn around and look at him, at least, before he heads into the forest. But, there is no goodbye. No acknowledgment to the boy whatsoever.
Pi is then rescued and the story ends with him in a hospital. When no one believes his story with the animals, he changes it using people instead of animals. The audience is left hanging to figure out which story they should believe. We are supposed to relate Pi to the Tiger I think or maybe to God. I am not sure yet. I don't like it when movies leave you hanging like that....
Someday, I will read the book and maybe look for all the religious symbols, but for now, I am quite happy with my practical interpretation based on my own life. Goodbye Tiger. Goodbye phobia. No need for a sentimental goodbye.
