From that deep winter in late 2019, when everyone thought we were going to usher in a new era, what we saw was that we did usher in a new era: a new world with the new crown epidemic.
Such a world has been more than three years now, and some people sigh that there are several years of youth, and the epidemic accounts for three years.
But we must know that from the founding of New China to the present, our years of peace have only been a few decades, and looking at the long river of mankind, there are many turbulent times.
But our lives are so short, so short that a war has ruined the youth of countless young people, and the current epidemic has only passed three years.
But no matter how the world changes, the days we should live will continue, the thorns and challenges we should face will still have to cross the past, and people in this life will have to go to the fence one by one.
Ordinary years will always have warm and singing days that make people feel that everything is hopeful and everything is worth it.
If you think that the life in front of you is so boring, then you go to the movie "London Family" and see how they actively spend this ordinary life in the movie.
The film is based on the work of the British picture book master Raymond Briggs, Raymond recorded his parents' life in a comic book, and their seemingly ordinary to the extreme is also a portrayal of each of our families.
01
A family from scratch
At first, her mother, Ethel, was a maid in an upper-class family, and every day she stood at the window to wipe the windows and greeted a young man on a bicycle.
And this young man is the father Ernest in the movie, ernest was just a milkman at that time, passing by her window every day and saying good morning to Ethel with his bright smile.
Ernest soon went with flowers in his hand to invite Ethel to the movies with him.
They dated, feelings grew, Ethel took Ernest to meet his parents, and the two soon decided to get married.
Ethel quit his job as a maid, and Ernest took out a loan to buy their new house.
Under the witness of their families, the two people entered the palace of marriage.
There was nothing in the new home for two people, the stove was old, not even a decent bed.
But they are still happy that this is their home, and even plan together how the room of the future child should be arranged.
Ernest is a very optimistic person, he will meet the new day with a positive and optimistic attitude every day, he is very satisfied with his work, although he is only a small milkman, but he will try his best to make his home better and better.
Ernest was very good at repairing the house's things, renovating old stoves, buying the best things with the cheapest money, adding furniture and appliances like Ethel's home: beds, mirrors, sofas, radios...
Ethel, on the other hand, was mainly responsible for the size of the house, washing and cooking, and keeping their home in good order like all housewives.
Ernest and Ethel's home is slowly becoming more like a home, and their homes have followed the industrial revolution with the addition of washing machines, telephones, electric cars, refrigerators, cars, and televisions.
From destitute homes to small homes with all kinds of new appliances and furniture, Ethel and Ernest, like all ordinary couples, create wealth and a good life with their hands.
And everything they have is real and precious and beautiful.
02
Seek common ground while reserving differences and embrace the way forward
The most shining thing that can be seen in Ernest and Ethel is that the attitude towards life is always positive.
Ethel likes to nag, and sometimes there are some small characters, but these small characters Ernest will tolerate.
Whenever Ethel was unhappy, Ernest would always give her a warm hug.
The two had been married for two years without children, and Ethel was very sad, and Ernest hugged the crying Ethel and said, "I know, I know." ”
They soon had children too, and on the morning their son was born, Ernest had just gone out to deliver milk, and by the time he returned, Ethel had finished giving birth.
Ernest was concerned about Ethel's physical condition from beginning to end, and when he learned that Ethel could no longer have children as an elderly mother, although he was also disappointed, he gave up the idea of having more children for the health of his wife.
The two of them were different in many ways: Ernest liked to talk about politics, and Ethel was busy with housework, but Ethel listened to Ernest every time.
Two people have different political partisan opinions, and while maintaining their own views, they can also respect each other, understand each other, and will not affect the life of their small families because of the big political environment.
When Ethel wanted something, Ernest would find a way to create it for Ethel.
Ethel felt that the coal in the house was a mess, and Ernest built a coal bank for her in the garden.
During the war, one of them became a firefighter and the other an underground clerk, giving each other strength in order to go strong in the period of war.
To escape the shelling, Ernest built an air raid shelter in the yard and made an iron cage bed in the house, where the two men slept in each other's arms, and during that turbulent war they became each other's backs.
03
Parents are the best teachers
For raising their sons, whether in the fireworks of war or life after the war, they did not let Raymond feel that the world was difficult, but let their sons grow up healthy with a sunny, optimistic attitude.
When Ernest and Ethel visit Raymond, who is fostered in the countryside, they see a child who thrives healthy in the countryside, and Raymond grows more robustly in the rural environment.
When Raymond was sent home by the police station for theft, Ethel, as a mother, was upset, but she said in front of her neighbors that her son had been sent back to cooperate with the police investigation, which made little Raymond feel very guilty.
This invisible encouragement and protection also made Raymond grow into a decent young man.
Raymond's abandonment of grammar school to transfer to art worried his mother, Ethel, who could not sleep at night, and they assumed the consequences of studying art.
People who study art can't make money, people who study art have long hair and can drink, and people who study art can draw nude women...
Despite the concerns of both parents, they did not force their son Raymond to follow their wishes according to their own will.
Raymond grew older, and the two of them grew older.
They were always lying in front of the window, watching their son's distant back with concern and expectation.
This is probably one thing that parents all over the world will do, watching children go from toddlers to adulthood, every step of growth has the shadow of parents, and children will leave this home and go somewhere else.
Raymond came to see Ethel and Ernest with the girl he wanted to marry, their son was getting married, and the couple was really old.
Ethel was miserable because Raymond's wife was mentally ill and unable to have children, but she had to accept the reality.
04
Accompanying old age
Ethel and Ernest grew old in each other's company.
They would sit together in the yard basking in the sun, Ethel knitting sweaters, Ernest reading the newspaper, and a cat by his side.
Or Ernest watching TV with Ethel by his side.
Then, as usual, Ernest talked to Ethel about current affairs and policies, and Ethel still asked Ernest with doubts, what is this, what was that, and then Ernest patiently explained it to her.
Later Ernest pushed Ethel, who was in a wheelchair, to see where they had walked when they were younger.
Ernest said to Ethel; "Remember when we used to come here with strollers?" ”
Ethel said: "Now the person sitting in the car is me. ”
Parents will grow old one day, but the memories of once young will always be engraved in the mind.
Ethel has Alzheimer's disease, and sitting in a hospital bed, she no longer knows her husband Ernest, who has been with her all her life, and secretly asks her son who the old man is.
Ethel was gone, and Ernest was alone in the house they once had, and there was no Ethel to watch TV with him, leaving only a black cat.
And Ernest also left due to illness shortly after Ethel left, and their lifelong companionship was frozen in their young wedding photos, eternally frozen.
05
epilogue
There is also a touching detail in "The London Family", that there will always be a bouquet of flowers in the home of Ethel and Ernest, which is a symbol of their active life.
Life, old age, illness and death, war turmoil, maybe we have to experience more than this in this life, but we will eventually find someone in this world full of anxiety, and finally whitehead.
The epidemic may continue for an unknown number of years, but our ordinary life will continue to be spent.
May all of you find the one who accompanies you through your ordinary and warm life in this turbulent world.
Always face life with a positive and optimistic mindset.
Then there is no winter that is insurmountable, and there is no spring that does not come.
Author: Zhou Yao, a member of the Intensive Reading Friends Association. Cultivate in the dust and survive in the world.