Mockingbird Hill Cottage

The tree. Finished. We hung the ornaments in the late morning hours yesterday and then hauled all the bins back to the storage facility. It’s really a perfectly shaped tree – if I didn’t know better, I’d be inclined to think it was artificial. It’s also the perfect size for this little area in front of the french doors. This is a small house and every bit of it is used, so finding a place for the tree is always a challenge. We used to put it in the corner of the den, but that space is now taken up with my first dollhouse – Hummingbird Cottage.

And that’s all I’m doing for several days – except to clean up the outdoor pots and put some of the furniture on the porch. I’ll probably do that tomorrow.

The hardest part of working on the film was the long hours. I was routinely gone for at least 15 hours. 12 hour workdays on the set are the norm, and there are times we worked 13 or 14 hours. Add in time to get ready in the morning, a commute of an hour – minimum – from and to Brooklyn, sometimes having to grab an Uber at 1 am because the trains didn’t stop at my local station after 11:30 (they were doing track maintenance,) and you can see the kind of days I had every week. I don’t know how the crew members who routinely do this kind of work manage to do it day in and day out. Of course, I’m much older than most of them, so there’s that. Believe me, Don, who understands, had to be a listening ear to my constant tales of exhaustion. He was great. So was Annie. They both said “You can do it!!!” in texts and on the phone. They were my cheerleaders.

It was so hard. And I feel the effects of it now. My body is slowly letting go of the past six weeks and it now craves rest and sleep. I nod off in the afternoon. I constantly nod off in the evening. That’s okay. I need to rest.

I don’t know how I did it, but I did, and I’m really, really proud of myself. I don’t think I’d want to do it again, but who knows? What made this all worth it was getting the chance to work with Jim and Ben. It was personal for me and that somehow kept me going.

Of course, getting to work with Sally Field and Bill Irwin was pretty darned wonderful as well. I can’t imagine two nicer or more talented people.

All my plans for exploring Manhattan and Brooklyn had to be whittled down to one day a week because by the time I reached Saturday, my first day off, all I could do was sit around the apartment. I was incapable of doing more.

I’ve never had a baby, but I imagine this is much like that experience in that you forget about the labor pains once you hold your child in your hands. I am slowly forgetting about the hours and the exhaustion and, in fact, didn’t feel any of that on the last day of filming because there was such a feeling of celebration amongst us. Job well done by all!

The people I met and worked with, the kindness shown to me by everyone, the privilege of watching each scene being filmed on our monitors, running on the set to give Ben a note, joking around with Jim and Ben, laughing constantly with Michael Ausiello, the author of the book the movie is based on, watching Michael Showalter, the director, work, watching the incredible crew members do their magic, watching Sally and Bill – so amazing, seeing Jim and Ben doing brave and brilliant work – those are the memories I will hold close to my heart.

One more thing:

The girls put up their own Christmas tree. They’ve been busy!

Stay safe.

Happy Thursday.