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​   Malice In Wonderland

5/1/2019 0 Comments

Oops I Did It Again...

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Second weddings are strange.  From debating on if you can wear white, obviously, the virginal jig is up when you’re walking down the aisle with three kids. To who gets an invite, it’s a no on your ex folks. It can be overwhelming.  Factor in the immense anxiety that accompanies remarriage and you’ll feel like you’re drowning in a sea of bullshit instead of a comfortable bottle of wine.
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​My first time around there was no wedding.  It was two kids at a courthouse in jeans and pockets full of empty promises.  When I approached getting married again, it was with a sprinkle of fantasy and a cold shot of reality.  Weddings can be pretty… pretty fucking expensive. With personal reminders that I failed at this marriage thing the first time around, and panic attacks every time wedding planning was mentioned, I concluded that I no longer possessed the bride gene.  It had got up and walked its ass out the door the day my first marriage collapsed. Without that vital gene to make wedding planning palatable we threw together a wedding in six weeks. I made it clear to everyone that anything longer than that and I was going to pull a Julia Roberts and bolt.
As far as I was concerned all we needed was clothing for the tiny bridal party, someone to take quality pictures, some delicious cake, and someone to make it all legal.  I figured we could totally do it all in a friend’s backyard and order pizza after the vows. What I assumed we would do isn't what we actually did. Why? Because it wasn’t my groom’s second wedding.  It was his first and he had waited a long time to take the leap. While I could pivot the wedding from a year of planning and a 250+ guest list, full of people we really didn't want to be around anyways, love required me to reach down deep and dust off a morsel of the bride gene so we had a day that brought us both joy.  
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Not wanting to repeat the same tired vows I had said before, we wrote our own.  They were personal and honest. We were two people, in the middle of immense personal growth, coming together under a tree on the nerd calendar’s holiest of days. Our union wasn’t based on the thought that we could fix each other or that we needed each other to be whole. Instead, it was and is based on the reality that we’re both arrogant enough to believe we can make this work. That we believe we have the strength to love and raise three kids together.  All while loving and pushing each other to be the best version of ourselves every single day. Making it legal ensured we had an expensive accountability buddy for the days when we aren't as strong as we need to be. ​
​Almost a year later and I can say it doesn’t matter if you wear white. Nor does it matter if you devour pizza or catered deliciousness.  The flowers will die. The pictures will eventually fade. All that will remain is the commitment of two people who want to be better than they were the day before and their belief that they’ll have better luck together than they will alone.  

So do what makes you happy and enjoy the cake because the real work is what happens after the wedding clothes come off.

“There’s a lot of things you need to get across this universe. Warp drive… wormhole refractors… You know the thing you need most of all? You need a hand to hold.”

― The Doctor
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​Copyright(c)2019 Rayven Holmes
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4/25/2019 0 Comments

All Night

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​Lemonade.  An album that became a cultural phenomenon and changed the game.   I’m not a music blogger, so this won’t be a dissection of an album that dropped three years ago.  Instead, it will be a reflection on the way the meaning of songs can change as we move through the various stages of our lives. 
 
Three years ago, Lemonade filled the recesses of my mind with empowering lyrics I needed to hear.  From the raw pain of “Hold Up” to the give no fucks boss bitch anthems of “Sorry” and “6 Inch”, I had words to scream when I failed to find the courage to speak.  I cried into bottles of Jack and Captain Morgan while listening to “Love Drought” and “Sandcastles”.  Most of all, I found hope in “All Night”. 
 
That was three years ago.  

​​Today, with all the clarity and wounds of the past three years, I see Lemonade differently.   It is still a stunning piece of work on the emotional weight that comes with pouring yourself into another human being and being left with nothing in return but heartache.  Now, though, the songs seem less like declarations to the source of one’s pain and more like letters to oneself urging the tortured to turn their pain into something glorious. 
 
I no longer see “All Night” with the rose-colored glasses of hope.  I no longer blast it crying out for a love that seemed to elude me.  This change, though, has nothing to do with my current relationship status.  Over the last three years I had to find the courage to love myself wholly in all my brokenness.  I had to learn to give up the fantasies I was sold from a young age about love and family. Instead, taking time to carve out what those things meant for me in the remnants of my soul. 
 
I had to find the truth beneath the lies I was told and discover the truest love of all was the love I had for myself.  As bitter as they may have been to accept and grow from, I had to learn to see my own scars and kiss my own crimes. I learned to trust myself and not fall victim to the people who wanted to consume me but never fully see me. 

​True love is a remedy for an aching heart and is absolutely the best weapon against pain.  But life has shown me that it’s foolish to seek that remedy in another.  We must arm ourselves with an unwavering passion for who we are, the good, bad, and downright ugly; if we ever want to make headway on the road of healing from that which tortures us. 

 
It’s not an easy road to travel. So, remember to offer yourself the sweet love you deserve.  Life’s too short to spend it forgetting to love the one person you’re guaranteed to be with forever.
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 Copyright(c) 2019 Rayven Holmes
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4/19/2019 0 Comments

Ask The Smiths

We love our holidays and celebrate them with wild abandon.  Each has traditions that have been tweaked and fine tuned over the years.  New Year’s Eve is no exception. On New Year’s Eve, as part of our annual countdown to midnight, we do end of the year interviews.  For the past six years, I’ve pulled out a list of questions and placed each of the Bringers of Mayhem in front of our Christmas tree. It is one of our traditions I look forward to the most each year.  As they have developed as individuals their answers have morphed from simple words into eloquent thoughts. Watching this change happen every year has been immensely enjoyable. In accordance with my “if I want you to do it I’ll do it too” parenting style I would also position myself in front of the camera. I didn’t put much emphasis on the way my answers changed.  This past New Year’s Eve my sister had a request that The Bearded One and I answer some couples questions. While this may seem like an adorable request to make of a newlywed couple he and I weren’t feeling the newlywed love vibes.

Our first holiday season as married partners attempting to blend our two worlds was a series of train wrecks. Factor in holiday financial stressors and we weren’t feeling anything but frustration.  My sister knew this. My sister is one of my closest friends and my rock. She also firmly believes that 90% of relationship problems can be solved when you remember why you’re building your life with that person.  The other 10%? Well that’s what divorce lawyers are for. I won’t say she’s right, because she already knows she is.
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So on New Year’s Eve, The Bearded One and I sat next to each other, engulfed in our strife, and answered questions while my sister live streamed it on Facebook.  By the end, we were laughing and she was asserting we are a strange couple. We are. But sis, there is absolutely nothing wrong with wandering around the woods at night as long as you’re prepared!  Did the Q&A solve all our problems? Absolutely not. That’s what therapists are for. But, working on your shit should be fun sometimes and answering random questions about our life together was fun.  Later that evening a few friends shared they would love to see us answer questions again. We figured why not, but the questions would have to come from others. The decision on when it happened was tossed into my court to figure out.  After some thought, and seeing how busy our life is, I settled on twice a year. May and December. Yeah, next month. Surprise!
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Here’s how this will work, on May 10th at 9pm we’ll go live on the Malice in Wonderland Facebook page.  Questions are due by noon on the 10th. Either comment them below, send them through a Facebook message, or text me if we’re cool like that. We’ll hang out for about fifteen minutes on Facebook. If we make it through the questions sent in then we may take some during the live feed but do NOT bank on this.  If there is something you want to know, and there is literally no limit to what you are allowed to ask, then send it in by NOON on the 10th!

I’ll post the aftermath either on here or YouTube or both.  Who knows. Like with my life, I’m making this shit up as I go and calling it a plan when it all comes together.

If you got questions, get to asking! 
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Copyright(c)2019 Rayven Holmes
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3/27/2016 1 Comment

Beauty, Pain, and a Movie Reel 

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 It all started with a halfhearted promise.  “I’ll make things better,” he said while kneeling in the muddy field.  He loved me I told myself.  He got a ring, he promised things would be better once we were married, so surely he loved me.  Over the next eight months I inquired about wedding details, “I don’t care about that stuff” he would mumble before rushing off the phone.  On my 18th birthday, I moved in with him.  This was the beginning of the rest of my life I told myself.  A life full of fantastic adventures with my best friend, or so I believed.









Our first attempt to get married a few days later was deterred by the incorrect birth certificate on my part, because there is a big difference in a certificate of live birth and a birth certificate, apparently.  I slunk home depressed in my pretty floral spring dress.  He looked relieved and eager to get out of the khakis I had requested he wear because “It’s our wedding day we should look nice”.  “It's a waste of time”, the words lingered in the knots of my hair I had spent an hour fighting with.  He thought it looked a mess.  But, I knew he loved me, so I simply needed to try harder next time.  

When the proper certificate arrived in the mail a couple of weeks later I was thrilled, he was annoyed.  “When do you want to go get married”, the words danced from my heart and oozed through my lips.  “I don’t know”, he replied.  I shook off his indifference.  Another couple of weeks passed before we had a discussion about expectations. I had no desire to shack up for an undisclosed period of time and needed to know if he really wanted the same thing I did.  Blame my Catholic conservative Christian upbringing.  Blame personal standards.  But after a month, you’re either buying the cow or getting your milk elsewhere because I refuse to play house.  After some grumbling, he lamented that he did want to get married and we agreed on a Friday afternoon.  He didn’t want to wear anything nice or take pictures.  I granted his wish with the hope that we’d have a nice wedding one day.  I spent that Friday on edge. My heart and stomach jumped, jived, and wailed with each tick of the clock.  I had to remind myself to breath as the hours turned into minutes and those minutes into the moments that would define the rest of my life.  

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The judge who married us was buried in a sea of child support filings and petty crimes when we walked in.  The defeat of his day shone on his face as I slid the marriage certificate onto his desk.  Immediately, he became animated and leaped from his seat with the joy that only the creation of marriage and new life can illicit in humanity.  He retrieved his crisp black robes from the nearby closet and announced our impending nuptials to the collection of depressed bodies that were waiting their turn to plead their various cases.  Then the judge reached for his phone and attempted to contact a buddy of his who worked at the local paper.  He had no luck.  My groom squirmed in his seat at the thought of having someone from the newspaper present at our nuptials.  Even a small wedding announcement had been out of the question.  After hanging up the phone the judge asked if he could read a bible passage during our ceremony.  Still being some version of Christian I had no problem with this but, I turned to my groom to ensure it was ok.  He nodded in that dismissive way only someone who is indifferent can and the judge smiled as he opened his bible.  Clearing his throat he asked us to rise, I jumped from my seat attempting to catch my heart as it leaped with excitement and turned to my groom.  He was still seated.   



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​My mind always slows this moment down.  I’m sure it was less than a minute, but in my mind, it becomes an eternity.  An eternity of chances to run.  An eternity to dance through the reel of what actually became a 12-year marriage plagued with abuse, infidelity, and loneliness.  An eternity to live again. 


An eternity to see every player clearly.  The judge with his confused and apprehensive glare.  The groom’s parents exchange of knowing looks for they kept his secrets better than he did.  The groom’s disdain as he willed himself from the seat and my wide-eyed naiveté.  As the reel plays in my mind, I always freeze this moment and stare at the child giving away her youth to someone who didn’t want to stand next to her.  I look through the eyes of a woman at the life of a girl who simply wanted to know she was loved, and I know she never was.  The woman knows that which the girl can not.   She knows of the lonely nights ahead of the girl, whose tears will stain every pillow she would ever own.  She knows the pain of her husband’s hands pressing against her pregnant belly.  She knows the way his words will hang heavy in her heart for a lifetime.  She knows the way laughter sounds when she’s in pain.  The woman can never save the girl.  
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No matter how many times I play this reel over in my mind, no matter how many times I reach for that young girl, no matter how many empty bottles I attempt to watch it through; I can never save the girl.  She always stands there eagerly awaiting her groom.  She always takes his hand.  She always says her vows with sincerity and passion as her brown eyes bore into his hollow blue eyes seeking confirmation that his heart beats as fiercely for her and her’s does for him.  She always signs her name.  She always stays after he pushes in her stomach and gleefully declares that hopefully he killed their unborn child.  She always runs interference and handles everything as to not upset him.  She always fixes the holes and stops asking about the stories that don’t mesh up.  She always makes sure the children believe they're loved by their father.  She always makes excuses for his noninvolvement, for her tears, for the sadness that hides behind her brown eyes.  She always stays.  Until she becomes the woman who doesn’t. The woman with the movie reel in her mind and scars upon her heart.  

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Divorce is easy.  You pay someone to file paperwork and fight with your spouse’s paid henchman/woman on your behalf.  You sign some papers. Then a judge, worn and weary from a life dedicated to law, declares you free from the shackles wrapped tightly around your left finger.  

Healing. Now, that’s the hard part.  Accepting your part in the chapter that was your marriage is hard.  Acknowledging your ex-partner for who they were and always will be is hard.  Stitching the holes in your heart with the rusty needle you find in the pile of your belongings is hard.  Getting up each day and putting one foot in front of the other is hard.  Smiling when you want to cry is hard.  Living in spite of the pain is hard.  Fighting your demons by yourself and realizing there are far worse things than being alone is excruciatingly fucking painful.  The healing is hard and the tunnel to the light is long.  But, there is beauty in the struggle.  Even if we can’t always see it right away.      
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