Brandon Stanton's Blog, page 310

“I just came back from class. I’m in a continuing education...

“I just came back from class. I’m in a continuing education program at a nearby college— it’s helping hold the Alzheimer’s at bay and keeping me out of the nursing home. Today was Genetics And Epigenetics. Tomorrow is French New Wave Film. Friday is Sociology and Religion. It’s where I get most of my socialization, too. It’s a bunch of widows and widowers like me.”
“Do you remember the saddest moment of your life?”
“When my wife told me she wanted to go to hospice.”
“Do you remember the greatest day you ever spent with your wife?”
“We took a cruise in Antarctica, and the weather was great, so the captain took us deeper than he normally goes, and we were floating among the icebergs, and the seals were laying out in the sun, and I remember both of us agreeing that it was the greatest day.”

“It was a difficult pregnancy. I was in so much pain all the...

“It was a difficult pregnancy. I was in so much pain all the time and the doctors couldn’t tell me why. I thought it would get easier when he was born, but it got even more difficult. I knew even in the hospital that he was different because every moment that I wasn’t holding him, he would scream. He can barely sit still. He won’t sit still even to eat. I have to watch so closely at all times, especially when he’s around other children, because he can be a little too much for them. Other parents have been saying to me for so long that he’ll grow out of it. I’m convinced now that every child is different and that what applies to their children might not apply to mine. But we just keep praying and hoping he’ll grow out of it.”
“What’s been your happiest moment as a parent?”
“The first time he told me he loved me. He just kept touching my face over and over again, saying: ‘Love you. Love you. Love you.’”

"We talked about it four or five times, and our families...

"We talked about it four or five times, and our families certainly pushed for it, but we decided early on that we didn’t want to have kids. There was too much we wanted to do. Since then we’ve formed our own company, made over 40 films together, worked in 60 different countries, and written 18 books—- eleven of them cookbooks, some of them bestsellers."

"We met in 1944, and we didn’t like each other. He was in...

"We met in 1944, and we didn’t like each other. He was in uniform, I was an art student. I called him a fascist. But we met again a few months later when he was on furlough from the army. We were both vacationing at the same dude ranch. I was wearing my father’s suede jacket, because he’d just passed away, and the sleeves were too long for my arms. And without saying a word, he walked up to me, and rolled the sleeves back a bit. And I thought it was such a sweet gesture."

Brandon,I’m the teenage girl you met earlier today when I...

Brandon,

I’m the teenage girl you met earlier today when I was walking with my dad and we talked for a little while about about my eating disorder, but I realized that I didn’t quite give the answers I felt were completely honest or were what I wanted to say. Thinking about it, what I really should have and wanted to say was that this whole experience of having an eating disorder has been complete shit, and it’s the hardest thing I have ever and probably will ever do. There’s no specific moment that has been particularly hard that my dad has helped me through, because the entire time it has just been an ongoing nightmare. 

If this is what you want for the caption, I could keep going into great depth about what it’s like having an eating disorder, portraying it in a multitude of metaphors and descriptions that would give people something meaningful to respond or react to. But even still, this probably wouldn’t come close to giving people an idea of how difficult, confusing, draining and indescribable this disease is. 

However, since this was originally about my dad and I, I wanted to say that another reason I can’t think of a specific time he’s helped, is because he has been here for me through all of it. The entire time, he has been trying his hardest to help me beat this, which I realize has been incredibly hard on him too, and I’m very appreciative and grateful for that. Whether you decide to use this (or part of) as the caption or not, thanks for reading it and allowing me to explain myself. By the way, would it be okay if you used the picture of our hands and left out my name? 

Thank you.

"I don’t know how to skateboard."

"I don’t know how to skateboard."

“The whole block chipped in and got this snow blower because we...

“The whole block chipped in and got this snow blower because we don’t want any of the old timers having heart attacks from shoveling snow.”

"During one of her depressive episodes, my sister laid in bed so...

"During one of her depressive episodes, my sister laid in bed so much that she developed bed sores, so I had to bathe her. She wasn’t eating at the time, so she was all skin and bones. The saddest part for me was how easily she accepted it. For her whole life, she’d been so shy about anyone ever seeing her naked. But now she didn’t even have the energy to care that I was washing her."

“When my sister’s having a manic episode, she thinks she has...

“When my sister’s having a manic episode, she thinks she has superpowers. She’ll go outside and strip off her clothes. She’ll develop all these conspiracies about the government being out to get her, and she’ll think that something she’s done has made our whole family unsafe. Sometimes she thinks that I’m not me, but an avatar of myself, and I’ll have to do all these things to prove that it’s really me. One time she stole someone’s bike off the street because she thought she was in a movie and was in a race to the Statue of Liberty. Luckily someone stopped her and took her to the hospital. It’s hard to see her like that, and it’s hard to say that there’s anything nice about it, but then again, I can’t help but feel that she has a certain freedom that I envy when she’s having an episode. I feel like everyone’s a little crazy and we all walk around with this armor of sanity, and she’s just able to cast it off completely. I’d almost like to join her and run around the city if only she could keep it from spinning out of control.”

“Friends should be friends together, and play together, and not...

“Friends should be friends together, and play together, and not let another friend be lonely. They should make a game together, and have fun together, and not let them kick people or punch people. They should also watch fairy movies and play in the park.”