It’s on Netflix!

There are times when our life circumstances end up with us hanging out with people who have very different views about the world.

I think going into family gatherings with a list of compromise, fairly neutral media to screen together is a good idea. (My family loved to go to the movies together on visits.)*

I find it easiest to deal with folks like that to focus on what we have in common. I think this documentary could create some family harmony for potentially up to 1 hour and 47 minutes.

Okay so first of all a lot of people love Tanya Tucker across the political spectrum. Brandi Marie Carlile herself says we (meaning everyone) are more alike than we are different.

A return story (don’t call it a comeback) is heart warming. Tanya is SO. VULNERABLE. Relatable! It’s hard to have been knocked on your ass and made mistakes and she has been so famous since she was a lil nugget 13 year old.

Pause and remember HOW YOUNG thirteen is!?

She chose Delta Dawn, by the way, as a nugget. That’s so boss.

Back in the day when the Gen X/Boomers/etc were younger there was way less media so Tanya being so famous so long ago means your older family members and people you know are likely to know Tanya and have some level of affection for her. Suggest this movie!

I cried 20 minutes into the movie and kept crying many more times. I can feal that vulnerability and dear lord, how relatable to take creative risks later in life.

I am a 2023 Brandi Carlile fan and the more I know her the more I like her.

Watching her produce someone she admired very much was brilliant! She is so tender and tough and has a clear vision. Brandi has Mercury in Cancer and the way she encourages Tanya is in this nurturing mommy boss very Cancer way. Tanya gets nervous about a minor part in the final mix and wants to change something, Brandi explains calmly what that might take away from the project and encourages Tanya just to take the vulnerability risk!

In my first post about Brandi I lamented we (meaning the world wide web) do not know her birth time because I, as a total astrology nerd, want to understand her rising sign! Based on watching her produce an album for another artist, I now think that Brandi either has a Cancer rising with that Mercury in Cancer on the ascendant, OR (more likely) she is a Virgo or Gemini rising, thus the Mercury in Cancer is her chart ruler. Watching how she produces and interacts with her fans (I’m a member of the Bramily now that happened very fast) I see how she is such a consummate nurturing creator, storyteller and captain of the ship.

The album they make on the documentary, While I’m Livin’, is absolutely fantastic!! A great listen! Playing cards with the family? Listen to Tanya’s two recent albums!

The song Bring My Flowers Now is so moving and I gasped when I realized the documentary was showing us the moment Tanya speaks those words as a song idea and Brandi takes up the pen and makes it happen.

It might be my favorite song ever. Once you realize how frequently your friends become ancestors you want to be giving flowers while you’re alive. At least I do. I’ve learned all too well there will be a time you can’t hug someone you love or admire and I want as many hugs and heart connections as I can before I depart this plane. (And I still want those heart connections then, too. But the hugs are an earthside thing!)

OMG the things Tanya says! She is my favorite kind of person–brutally honest. Brandi asks her about Miranda Lambert and she says “Oh she’s my pick of the litter!”

Wow. Like that’s really a compliment coming from Tanya and you can tell by the tone of her voice but it’s so specific.

Anyway, I meant to post this documentary / Netflix recommendation during the holidays back when I posted about ways to handle your tough family conversations and I think this review and that survival guide are a good pair.

P.S. Just cuz you’re visiting family or friends or community doesn’t mean you need to stay with them. Consider the mental health benefits of (if you can) renting a place with a bathtub for a salt bath and some meditation/spiritual hygiene time. Or taking up a friend on their alternate place to stay!

(When I was easing out of no contact with my mom I stayed across the Bay from her in the redwoods with my bestie and drove an hour to visit with her when I needed to visit. Or with my friends in SF who had a really nice tub and cozy guest bed!)

If you can’t get a separate place advocate for your self care time and space! Taking a walk and putting your feet in the grass. There are sometimes hotels with hospital discounts if you’re visiting someone in a hospital!

*I have a BIG BOUNDARY about having the TV news on no matter what the genre of the mass media. It’s not how I want my ear space occupied. If my Grandmother were alive now we would have intentional old movies playing 24/7 because she used to play the news 24/7 very loud in her house to ease her anxiety. I would want to be a partner with her to ease her anxiety with noise it would just need to be something I found soothing, too.

Grandmother had a huge bath tub in her guest suite and I kept epsom salts there for my visits. I miss her hugs and getting to stay with her in Palm Springs! I would have shown her this Tanya Brandi documentary after showing her how to use Netflix on a streaming device for the infinite time.

Me and my beloved Grandmother Anise on the day she was diagnosed with lung cancer. She loved getting orchids and I would pick one up from Trader Joe’s for her every time I visited long before the diagnosis. P.S. Any location for Sherman’s Deli in the Palm Springs and surrounding area is worth a visit! Grandmother loved taking us there!
Someday I’ll have “Welcome Amethysts” flanking the foyer of my home in Grandmother’s honor. We loved visiting Crystal Fantasy! Felt like a risk to be my full self with my family for a long time but I am glad Grandmother and I share an obsession with astrology and an openness to the metaphysical. Once our ancestors have crossed I bet they are real glad when we choose the metaphysical beliefs that there’s more to life than this!

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