Olivia Newton-John

I was nervous about this post last night.

I get nervous about doing posts on super famous people. I feel there are probably so many other websites about them. What can I say that hasn't been said before? Plus, I do my little biographies within a few hours. Other people take weeks, months....years to do theirs.

I feel whatever I do....it's going to be lacking.

But I do it anyway.

In bed last night, I had one of those half dream type things. You know it's like you're half in a dream and half awake? You feel like you're in the bed rather than some mystical place. But your thoughts are dreamlike. I hope I'm explaining this right. Anyway, in this dreamlike state, I got the idea that I need to mention Like Water For Chocolate in my Olivia Newton-John post. I really don't think she had anything to do with that movie. I think the movie came to me because there are things in the plot of that story that relate to the book I'm reading now (Coldwater). In both stories, there's the idea of a child staying behind (not marrying) so she can take care of her parents. I'm doubting this relates to Olivia Newton-John in anyway. But if it does....that will be awesome synchronosity.

What do I know about Olivia Newton-John?

The keywords I have are Grease, Xanadu, breast cancer, and missing boyfriend.

Oh! I also know Helen Reddy was somehow involved with launching her career. I remember reading that when doing the post on Reddy. Although I don't think the incident was actually mentioned in Reddy's memoirs.

Anyway, I guess I shall start my research.

Lord Wiki says baby Olivia was born on 26 September 1948. She's twenty-three days younger than my mom.

She's a Libra like my younger sister.

The birthday website says her numerology number is 3. I don't know many people with this number. It's the social number. I think these people are good at expressing themselves.

How would our world change if we knew for sure there was life after death, and it was easy for our dearly-departed to talk to us via the Internet?   

The Dead are Online  a novel by Dina Roberts 

Baby Olivia was born in England. Daddy Newton-John was Welsh. Mommy Newton-John was German.

Newton-John's maternal grandfather was a Nobel Prize winning physicist. That's Max Born. Born was a Jewish-German. That means Olivia Newton-John has Jewish ancestry.

Born was friends with Einstein. Jack and I learned about him yesterday...Einstein, not Born.

Newton-John has two older siblings. Her sister is an actress too. Lord Wiki says she was on the Benny Hill Show.

Daddy Newton-John has a claim to fame too. Lord Wiki says he's the one that took Nazi Rudolf Hess into custody.

Wow. I gotta say...so far this research is turning out to be more interesting than I expected.

In 1954, the Newton-John family moved to Melbourne. Young Olivia would have been about six.

Daddy Newton-John worked as a professor of German. That's interesting. Lord Wiki says he was Welsh and Mommy Newton-John was the German one. I wonder if that's how they met. Maybe Daddy Newton-John met Mommy Newton-John in his quest to learn German. Maybe she tutored him?

All right. Now we get to the career stuff. This will be overwhelming to me. I might end up skipping over stuff. I apologize in advance.

When Newton-John was fourteen, she started an all girl band called Sol Four. They performed in a coffee shop owned by her brother-in-law. I guess the band did well. Soon Newton-John was on TV shows.

YouTube actually has a clip of her appearance on The Happy Show. I'm not sure which person is Newton-John....Is it the woman with blond hair? The clip is from 1965. Newton-John would be about seventeen.

Okay. Someone just said her name. It is the woman.....

Newton-John was also on the Go Show.

She did a contest show called Sing Sing Sing. She won a trip to England but was reluctant to go. Her mom encouraged her to go, saying she should broaden her horizons. Hey, this might fit into my Like Water for Chocolate synchronosity. Here we have a mother who makes the choice to let her child go...ENCOURAGES her child to go. This is in contrast to the parent who insists that their child stays nearby. Actually, the episode of Arthur we watched last night fits in to this too. Little Bunny Buster Baxter wants to go to NYC to stay with his dad for awhile, but he feels nervous about leaving his mother. She assures him he'll be fine.

I do find this to be a challenging struggle. When Jack and I separated from each other, I don't want him to get this idea that I'm HAPPY to be away from him. Yet, I also don't want him to think I'm sad. I usually go for the. Yeah. We might miss each other a little bit. But you'll have fun. I'll have fun. And it's good to go our own way sometimes.

Since Jack is homeschooled, we do have less separation than the average family. I'm sure as he gets older, though, the separations will be more frequent. Emotionally, I can already see differences. Jack used to insist that he was going to live with us forever. If I tried debating that, he'd get upset. Eventually, I gave up. I figured he'd probably be like most kids and grow out of that sentiment. He already has. Now his plan is for us to live in different houses. But we will visit each other everyday.

In 1966, Newton-John recorded her first single. It was called "Till You Say You'll Be Mine". She did this in England. She was homesick...maybe not for her mom. She missed her boyfriend—an actor named Ian Turpie. The two had met doing a TV movie together.

Yikes, it seems like Mommy Newton-John went too far opposite of being a clingy parent. Newton-John would book tickets home to Australia. Her mom would cancel them. What's worse, the parent who doesn't want you to leave their side, or the parent who INSISTS you be far away from home? Well, I guess both are bad because it's preventing an adult from making their own decisions and life choices.

Things did get better for Newton-John in England. Her friend, singer Pat Carroll, moved there. The two of them did work together.

Around this time, Newton-John was recruited to join a band formed by the guy who made The Monkees. This band was called Toomorow. They made a movie starring the band. Neither the band nor the movie did so well. It was a failed experiment.

In 1971, Newton-John did her first whole album. It was called If Not For You. The title song (written by Bob Dylan) was a hit.

Her song "Banks of the Ohio" was a hit in England and Australia. It wasn't popular in America. I like this song. I've never heard it before. The funny thing is, a YouTube commenter says the song is a traditional American ballad. Maybe Americans were tired of it already.

Lord Wiki says it's a murder ballad. Wow. I didn't know such things existed.

Newton-John was named best British vocalist around this time. It's interesting that she was considered to be British rather than Australian. I guess she was both.

Newton-John hit it big in America in 1973. This was with the song "Let Me Be There". It's a country song. She earned a Grammy for best country singer. Wow. I didn't even know she did country music.

There were American bigots out there who didn't like a foreigner doing country music. Certain American country artists were very upset when Newton-John won the Country Music Associations artist of the year award in 1974. They even formed an association in protest....Association of Country Entertainers.

Lord Wiki says though that it wasn't just about being foreign. The country people didn't like the pop star influences that was coming into the country music field. Newton-John wasn't the only target. When John Denver won an award, the guy who presented it to him burned the winner-announcement envelope with his lighter. Lovely.

The uptight rigid prejudice attitude eventually faded a bit.

In 1976, Newton-John did another album. She recorded it in Nashville.

She was encouraged by Helen Reddy to come and live in the United States. Were they close friends? Acquaintances?

In the 1970's, Newton-John had a lot of #1 singles. I'm getting that she was the big thing in the 1970's. I didn't realize she was such a popular singer. I thought she was mostly known for Grease, and then did a few songs on the side.

Lord Wiki lists some of the popular songs.

There's "I honestly love you". I recognize this song.

There's "Have You Never Been Mellow". Lord Wiki says this song is featured in the Broadway musical of Xanadu.

There's "Let it Shine". This video link is from a 1976 Japan concert. So I guess she did some Asian travel.

Well, I'm not going to list all her hits. I'm lazy.

Newton-John did an uncredited vocal contribution to John Denver's "Fly Away". I guess it was just on the album that it was uncredited. Here they sing the song on a Christmas special together. I LOVE this song. When I was a child, my family would go on these driving trips. We rode in a van and listened to the same tapes over and over. John Denver was one of those that we'd often listen to. Whenever I hear the song, I feel like I'm back in the van. I can taste that flat soda we'd drink in our travel cups....and tropical Lifesavers. My parents would buy us the little packages of Lifesavers. For some reason, we were all so excited about this. I vaguely remember calling out what flavors we were eating. I think Coconut was the big hit.

Lord Wiki says that in 1977, Newton-John's country career faded a bit. As that poem says, nothing gold can stay.

But it CAN jump back if it's creative and talented enough.

In 1978, Newton-John was in Grease. This prevented her from becoming a has-been. And here's the Helen Reddy part. She went to Reddy's party and met the producer Alan Carr. Was that Reddy's husband? You know, she doesn't mention the name of her husbands in her book. She just calls them husband 1, husband 2, and husband 3.

No. Lord Wiki says Carr wasn't Reddy's husband. Lord Wiki says this guy's reputation was heavily damaged in 1989. Why? He's the guy responsible for Rob Lowe and Snow White singing together during the Oscars.

Anyway, Carr met Newton-John at the party and offered her the role of Sandy. Newton-John was a bit hesitant about playing a high school student, because she was already close to thirty.

Here's a miracle. The American movie people allowed Newton-John to keep her Australian accent. I guess in those days, American movie folks didn't have that accent phobia thing. They changed the story around a bit...made her an Australian moving to America.

Grease was a big hit in 1978. I would be about five or six then. I wonder if my family went to see it.

The movie was popular. The songs were popular. Maybe I should listen to a few.

Here's "You're the One that I want". I love the song. I love the movie. Is there any girl who was born in the 1970's who doesn't love that movie? BUT someone once pointed out to me that the message of the movie is kind of awful. It's pretty much saying that if we want to win someone's heart, you must succumb to peer pressure. Sandy totally CHANGES by the end of the movie. Was it a good change? I guess that's up to debate. I personally prefer her when she was all pink, innocent, and sweet.

My sisters and I (along with our husbands) sang this song on a cruise. Actually, I think the kids sang with us too.

Here's a ghetto parody of the song. Oh these people are funny. They also have a spoof of Silence of the Lambs. Oh, they're GREAT. Why have I not seen this before?

Grease did great things for Olivia Newton-John. She won a People's Choice award. She was nominated for a Golden Globe award. Lord Wiki says that even today (31 years later!) the soundtrack still sells thousands a week.

In the late 1970's, Newton-John was a big star.

In 1980, she did a song with Andy Gibb. He's Australian, right? I'm not sure if I've heard this before, but it does bring back childhood memories. It makes me feel like I'm in Madison Wisconsin....playing in our awesome basement.

1980 is also the year that Xanadu came out. I remember my sister had the single. I love the song. A few months ago, I had a lucid dream in which I started to sing this song. The song reminds me of lucid dreaming. It gives me the same goosebumpish spiritual feeling that the Neverending Story song does.

Now I'm feeling all nostalgic and inspired.....

Another song from the Xanadu soundtrack was "Magic". I think I remember that. I like the song.

In 1981, we had "Physical". I remember that. I have so many childhood memories flooding in. I'm not sure they're directly related to the song. I remember playing with my friend Elizabeth Schreiber. I remember she had some kind of weird octopus toy. Or maybe I dreamed that.

Although the lyrics of "Physical" had some sexual connotations, Newton-John tried to present a different interpretation. She made the video have an exercise theme.

In 1983, Newton-John got back together with Travolta for another movie. Two of a Kind. The movie didn't do well, but the soundtrack had some success. One of the songs was "Twist of Fate"

Oh! I forgot about THIS. Koala Blue!!! Remember the clothing line? I have a story about that. My family was once on a cruise. My sisters and I shared a room. We all took a nap together. I woke up from my sleep and saw a tarantula crawling on my sister. I'm pretty sure I screamed quite frantically. I soon had my sisters terrified as well. I can't remember the exact details. I'm guessing we turned on lights and searched the room. My dad was probably brought in. Finally, I realize what I had seen was not a tarantula. It was the koala on my sister's Koala Blue shirt. In the dark, it must have looked like a tarantula.

It seems now Koala Blue makes food and water instead of clothing.

In 1984, Newton-John got married. The marriage lasted pretty long. They didn't get divorced until 1995.

In 1986, Newton-John gave birth to a daughter....Chloe Rose. Here's a video of teenage Chloe singing with her mom. Chloe is named after the perfume Newton-John was wearing when she met Chloe's husband.

Newton-John took three years off to be with her new child. I think that's lovely. Okay, I'm going to be judgmental here. Sorry. I do have some problems with celebrities who don't take any time off to be with their new babies. I'm really not impressed with the actress who quickly sheds her pregnancy weight and makes a bunch of movies while her child is an infant. I'm sure they don't need the money.

I can understand doing a little thing here and there....keeping yourself in the business so you're not forgotten. I just think it's sad to hear about actresses who had a busy year....THREE movies and a TV show. Oh and by the way, they also had a toddler and a newborn at home.

I probably have more sympathy for the performers/actresses who are new to the business. I understand that they don't want to drop out before they have their foot firm in the door. But for people like Olivia Newton John....well, yeah. I think it's good that she took a break.

And I could be talking out of my ass here. Who knows. If I had fame and fortune, I can't promise I'd drop out to be with my children. I'd probably be like the rest of them...hire a nanny and breastfeed in my spare moments. I'd like to imagine I'd make the other choice, though. Who knows.....

And maybe Newton-John made the wrong choice. She returned in 1988. There's some faulty math here. A three year hiatus would land us in 1989. Wouldn't it? Anyway, her new songs didn't do so well. Maybe the hiatus cost her. But still. It is nice to put your children before your career...if possible.

In the late 1980's Newton-John was competing with teen singers Tiffany and Debbie Gibson. Tiffany and Gibson make me think of my younger sister. I'm floating down memory lane again.

In 1992, Newton-John tried to make a comeback. She released a hits collection album, and planned to do a tour. Breast Cancer got in the way. The weekend she got the diagnosis was also the weekend that her father died. Now THAT is a bad weekend.

Newton-John became a breast cancer advocate. In 1994, she released an album called Gaia: One Woman's Story. It chronicled her experiences with cancer. In 2005, she released another cancer album sold exclusively at Hallmark.

In 2008, she opened a cancer center in Melbourne.

All right. Now I'm into more current stuff. It looks like she's had some success lately.

In 1998, she did a song called "Back With a Heart". It had some chart success.

One of her songs did fairly well after it was featured on As the World Turns.

At the 2000 Olympics, Newton-John sang "Dare to Dream".

In 2002, she released a duet album. In one song, she did one of those sing-with-a-dead-person duets. She sang with Peter Allen. That's really beautiful...but eerie. It looks like Allen is really there.

I'm having a few little tears....

Newton-John did some TV work. She played a lesbian in something called Sorbid Lives.

Around 1996, Newton John met her boyfriend. They dated for about nine years. Then he vanished.

In 2008 she married the founder of a natural herbal company. The wedding was in Peru. They had a private ceremony. No one was there except them. No one knew about it except their daughter. I like that. If I could do things over, I'd have a private wedding. Then it's more about love and less about the party.

I think this is the herbal drink that the new husband makes.

The lovely couple now lives in Florida.

Okay. I'm done with Lord Wiki now.

I'm going to pee, play with Jack, and then look at another website...maybe IMDb. I'm not going to spend too much time there, though. I am TIRED of that website.

I'm back. I'm going to look at the IMDb trivia/bio page.

The Newton-John family left England because Daddy Newton-John was offered a job at a university. I wish that would happen to our family.

She dropped out of high school to move to London. What? Drop outs can succeed? Is that really possible? Someone needs to inform these people.

Her breast cancer surgery was done in 1992.

She was a close friend of Karen Carpenter.

She likes lilies and orchids.

Her favorite scent is jasmine.

She likes cosmetics. I do too. I mean I'm not as into it as I have been in the past. I don't spend a lot of money on it. I get the drug store stuff and use it much longer than the recommended time. I noticed though, in Australia, that women wear make-up less. Or maybe I just coincidentally hung out with people who don't do make-up. I don't know. I go through periods of my life where I do the no make-up thing. I usually end up looking better in photos when I don't wear any. But sometimes I like it. On our last Aussie trip, I was into wearing it. I think I wore it everyday. These days, though, I wear it pretty infrequently.

Newton-John's favorite possession is a diamond and opal ring. There's a superstition about opals. It says you should only wear them if they're your birthstone. Is there truth to that? Probably not, but since hearing it I haven't wanted to wear my little opal necklace. Then again, I haven't been into wearing ANY necklaces lately...not even my favorite amethyst one.

In 1992, not only did Newton-John get the cancer diagnosis and lose her father, but she also had to declare bankruptcy.

After Grease, she was considered for the lead role in a film version of Evita. It never happened, though.

I like this quote. My cancer scare changed my life. I'm grateful for every new, healthy day I have. It has helped me prioritize my life.

No one wants bad things to happen to themselves or those they love. But I think sometimes the bad stuff does improve our lives. It makes us better people...sometimes.

This quote is even better. When asked why she went public with her breast cancer, she replied, I am making this announcement myself, to save enquiring minds ninety-five cents.

That's in reference to the National Enquirer ads. Enquiring minds want to know!


Yes! Good. We have an Andrew Denton interview.

Newton-John's grandfather was Einstein's BEST friend. That is some great trivia.

Newton-John says her mother says that Einstein used to come over and the men would play music together.

Denton mentions that Daddy Newton-John had impressive brains too. He and Newton-John joke about her brains...where did the super genius stuff go? Newton-John talks about how there's a connection between math and music. She suggests she got the music talent. I think that's just as important as math.

She says her parents wanted her to go to school. I guess this refers to university? They remind me of my parents. College wasn't even a question. I mean I myself never even imagined not going. Graduate School was a different story. I didn't want to go. My parents felt it was very important.

When Newton-John was sixteen, she was in a show called A Funny Thing Happened Down Under.

One of Newton-John's favorite songs is "Anyone Who Had a Heart". She sang this song in the Sing Sing Sing contest.

Newton-John was forced to choose between finishing High School and working full-time on a TV show. She chose the latter. I personally feel she took the right path.

Her mom became her manager.

Newton-John says she never became a vocal feminist like Helen Reddy. She was into the environment, though....even back in the 1970's. She refused to go to Japan at one point until they stopped the fishing practices that killed dolphins. Newton-John says the Japanese were pretty angry at her.

Denton asks her about the last scenes in Grease...where Sandy makes the big change. He asks if she had been worried how it had been taken?

Newton-John doesn't seem at all bothered by it. No, I wasn't worried about that because it was in character, so it was really...it was so much fun, you know? Fun for her. Yes. But did it give anyone the wrong message? There's almost an anti-feminist message in the movie. Why did Sandy have to change for her man? Why didn't he change for her? Why couldn't they both change a little bit? I do love the movie. But I'd probably love it more if at the end, Travolta's character request that Sandy go back to being herself. Although in fiction writing, one of the main rules is that the main character is supposed to CHANGE. There needs to be a transformation. I just think Sandy changed a little bit too much.

Maybe though...we're not supposed to believe she changed personalities. Maybe the change is about gaining strength and becoming more assertive. Is Sandy still herself....yet a stronger version? OR has she completely changed, so she can be accepted by her boyfriend?

As for that bad weekend....Newton-John had the biopsy the week before. Her dad died on the weekend. Newton-John's husband got the call from the doctor but waited a few days to tell her. He felt she had enough on her plate.

Newton-John kept the cancer a secret from her daughter. She did this, because her young daughter's best friend had died of cancer. She thought if she told her daughter the truth, her daughter would get scared that she'd lose her mother too. The daughter eventually found out from kids at school.

I think Newton-John might have made the wrong decision. I don't know. I did something like that once. When Jack was about five, my cousin died. I would have told him but earlier he had been really upset when hearing that his gymnastic teacher's uncle died. I was afraid it would upset him. We went to Chicago for the memorial service. Jack didn't attend. We just told him I was going to some ceremony. He didn't ask questions.

Sometime later, I told him the truth. Do I regret keeping it from him? Not really. I don't think it was something he was ready to face. And since it was a distant cousin to him...one he probably didn't even know existed, it wasn't something that personally effected him.

I don't think there are any definite rules about these things. I think it depends on the age of the child, their personality, and how inquisitive they are. There's also the factor of gossip. Is the child going to hear it from someone else? Probably. So if it's an issue that strongly effects them, it's probably best they hear it from you and not from kids at school.

Newton-John said that having cancer made her lose some of her fear of growing old. I can imagine that. For me, just KNOWING people who have died young makes me okay with aging. Although that Harvie Krumpet movie makes me dread it a bit. It showed some of the negative aspects of aging. Then again, even before seeing the movie, I wasn't so keen on the REALLY late years. I'm more okay with the years of 40-80. After that, it's a little scary. Maybe I'll hope to die when I'm 80. Although it would be cool to be one of those super healthy, and still smart, old people. It does happen sometimes.

Newton-John say she also fears death less. She's still a little nervous, but feels she got that second chance. I can kind of understand that. Maybe it's like living on borrowed time. If you think you're going to die when you're in your fifties and you don't....then all the extra years might seen like a very special gift. If you think of dying soon, you might say. Oh well. At least I got all that bonus time.

She was with her mom when her mom died. Newton-John is a spiritual one. She says, Yes, you realise that really the person is the spirit, because once the spirit is gone, that is not the person you knew anymore, and I felt her spirit very strongly. We had some quite amazing experiences with her spirit afterwards, so if I had any doubts before, I don't know.

Newton-John has a ghost story. I have to read this.

Although Mommy Newton-John was agnostic, Olivia Newton-John had asked her to give a sign after she had died.

About an hour after her mom died, Newton-John asked for the sign. She asked her to make the candles flicker. The candles flickered a little. Uh, that could have been the wind. But who knows. It could have also been a sign.

But then a stronger sign happened in another room. There was a candle near her mother's photo. That candle did some kind of big explosion thing. Well, that's a more substantial sign than some flickering.

Here's the official website for Olivia Newton John. She's very beautiful. I don't imagine her being the type to do plastic surgery. She seems more like the herbal remedy type person.

This website believes Newton-John DID have surgery.

Who knows.....

I'd be more inspired if I knew of beautiful people that age who achieved it WITHOUT plastic surgery. I'd also hate to think people would lie about this--say they've had no surgery when they have had it. The recent episode of Drop Dead Diva was about this. (spoilers here so skip this paragraph if you want to avoid them) Well, it wasn't plastic surgery. It was gastric surgery. A young teenager followed a website diet plan. She lost tons of weight. Yes. But she also damaged her heart. Her calorie intake was limited to 500 a day. Then you learn that the diet guru, with the website, wasn't thin because of her diet. She was thin because of gastric surgery.

If a celebrity gets plastic surgery and denies it, people might think she achieved it with beauty products. They might spend tons of money on lotions, creams, and make-up believing that they can achieve the same look.

I think the best scenario is a celebrity who looks great WITHOUT surgery enhancement. After that would be someone who gets surgery, but admits to it. I have respect for that too.

We could say none if it's our business. But with our society's obsession with beauty.... I think it's an issue that can't simply be ignored.

Wait, though. There may be another side of the story. The website, that claims they can tell Newton-John has had surgery, is a site that promotes and sells plastic surgery. Maybe we have the opposite problem here. Maybe these people push the idea that celebrities have had plastic surgery. Then we might say, Well, if I want to be beautiful, plastic surgery is the only route to go.

Back to the official website.....

They say Newton-John was on Talking Heads. I'll read that transcript.

The Breast Cancer wellness center seems to be for alternative medicine. That fits with who her husband is. It's a place where you can get homeopathy, herbs, massage, meditation, etc. That's pretty cool.

She sings in the shower. I do too. I also sing while washing dishes...at least I did so this morning.

Her parents divorced when she was ten. I didn't know that.

Newton-John said if she didn't become a performer she would have liked to become a vet.

You know, I think I read the mom thing wrong...about Newton-John buying plane tickets and her mom canceling them. Now I'm getting the idea that her mom was WITH her in England. So it wasn't like she wanted to come home to be with her parents, and her mom was saying No. You need to stay back in England. Your career is more important than you being with us. It's more like Newton-John was trying to leave her mom in England and get back to Australia....probably just to be with her boyfriend.

Newton-John says she's thankful to her mom.

There's talk about how some people believed she had no talent...she was famous because of her looks. This was something I thought about the other day. I had some prejudices against someone just because they were physically attractive. I had to stop and remind myself that just because someone has a nice body, it doesn't mean they're dumb or lacking in personality. That's what I love about the show Drop Dead Diva. It doesn't just deal with the prejudice that overweight people face, it reminds us that woman who are models (or look like one) face prejudice as well.

I know I have prejudices about pretty people....mostly stemming from jealousy, I'm sure. It's something I need to work on.

Olivia Newton-John and the Talking Heads guy talk about how Xanadu was a flop but now it's become a cult classic.

I love this bit. The Talking Heads guy asks if she would change anything. Newton-John says, In my life? If I've hurt anyone, I'd apologise, but apart from that, my own life experience, no. I think regret is a wasted emotion because you can't change it, you know? You can apologise for things you've done, but things that have happened, you can't change them.

I like that since I believe everything happens for a reason. My sister was hit by a car. It was an awful experience for everyone. But I believe if it hadn't happened, she would have had a totally different life. I don't think my nieces would exist today. So should the drunk driver regret what he did? I don't think so. I do think he should be SORRY for what he did. But if he changed the past, who knows where we'd all be today. All of our lives would probably be very different.

I'm grateful for some of the bad things that happened to me recently. I think they were great life lessons. I feel stronger because of these experiences. But it's weird. Should I be THANKING the people who were awful to me? Do I owe them a flower bouquet? Thanks for treating me like shit! You've improved my life with your nastiness.

It's funny. I'm thankful to these people, yet I still feel they should be apologetic. Maybe it's not for my sake but more for their own.

My parents were awesome in many ways. But they also made mistakes that hurt me. I have good traits and bad traits. What if all my good traits are the result of their mistakes? Most people think Jack is a great child. I've gotten a lot of compliments on my parenting. But what if his best traits come from my bad parenting moments?

It's like the whole Judas and Jesus thing. Judas is seen as a villain in Christianity. Yet because of him, Jesus died for everyone's sins. Some Christians blame the Jews for killing Jesus. Yet at the same time, they are so thankful to Jesus for dying. It's all so weird and complicated.

I'm not sure what all this means. I almost feel like I'm saying we should do bad things to each other. That would be an awful message to put in a blog.

I don't know what to think really.

I guess it's more about what Olivia Newton-John said. We should be sorry for our wrongs, but we don't need to regret them too much. What happened has happened. We can't change the past. But we can learn from it. And we can HOPE that the wrong we've done to others didn't permanently damage them in anyway. We can hope this was their destiny, and/or we can hope it made them better people in the long run.