Family Portrait

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious. 

Trust me; I have been listening to that song for all my life but yet, I still can't pronounce that word above. 

Last weekend, my childhood memories were rekindled again after watching Saving Mr Banks. 

I believe you have watched Mary Poppins when you were young - colourful and joyful ain't it? 

But did you know the inspiration behind was so dark and tragic?

I never knew either until I watched Saving Mr Bank - the movie centred on the fort-night long developments PL Travers (author of Mary Poppins) with Walt Disney  in agreeing the screenplay right. 

Mr. Banks is the patriarch of the family who is so obsessed with his working life that he doesn't have much time for his children. Travers believed that Mary Poppins (her aunt) came to the Banks family to save Mr. Banks from his unfulfilled life and to make him realize that family was his real priority. Travers' father was a bank manager who died when he was in his 40s of alcohol-related diseases. Travers, in turn, wished she could have saved her father from his own demons.

Anyhow, watching her struggle in the movie, it reminds me of my struggle during my preteen years when family breakdown struck me. I'm not sure it is a jinx or mere coincidence, most of the gay friends that I know came from broken families. 

I know times are hard when the screaming and yelling fill-up to the roof. It won't be forever. Be strong and those things never turn out your way but everything will be alright.

Let end this entry with a lullaby by Mary Poppins: