The Change in Time

It's funny how time can change things. In March, I worked on this film called "Frozen" and I had two "puppies" on that film. But after the first day or so, one of the guys more or less went 'back to normal', so he was okay again after that (plus, he was only 2 or 3 years older than I was, so it wasn't as weird to me). But the other one kind of freaked me out. He would come find me every time he had downtime, and would always sit next to me at lunch, and... he was "waaay older." I was kind of relieved on my last day of that film (I only worked 1-2 times a week on it) because I knew I wouldn't have to see him again for quite some time - if ever.

The first week of this film went by and we had only our "skeleton crew" ... Then, the last day of the first week, a few people were added to the crew. I was grabbing some of my stuff and walking back to where we were about to film when all of a sudden this guy walked past me. At a glance, he looked kind of like another guy on crew (Seth), but without the beard Seth had. I was so confused because I knew it wasn't Seth, but I couldn't figure out why I knew the guy. Then it hit me: he was the puppy from Frozen. I momentarily freaked, and then hoped/thought "maybe he won't remember or recognize me..." Wrong! About ten minutes later he came up to me and started chatting with me. I thought "Oh no, it's going to be like this for the rest of the film... great..."

However, to his credit... at that very moment that he came up to me, I was seconds away from leaking like a faucet and needed a distraction in the worst way. (The last two days had had a lot of crap happen both on and off set, and something else major had just barely occured on set to add to the stress... I was fighting the tears SO hard) When I am like that, I don't want someone to give me a hug or say "it'll be okay" or any crap like that. I just need a distraction - something to talk about that is *completely* unrelated. Luckily, that is exactly what he did. Props to him for that. Still, though... I kind of avoided him for the rest of the day. I still had the "Frozen" mindset and didn't want to maintain a puppy for the duration of the film.

Well... it is now 3 days before picture wrap and yes, my how time changes things - in multiple ways. At this point in time, he has probably become one of my closest friends on set. Not that I'm really "close" with anyone on set, but you get the idea. We chat during downtime, quite frequently sit at the same table at lunch, trade off backrubs, and play mini wars all throughout the day (I try to stick tape on him without him noticing - he tries to stick clothespins on me without me noticing. One of his clothespins even said "PAY BACK" - and one of my tape pieces said "GOTCHA"). (PS, grip and electric use clothespins for the lights; and yes I like my parentheses)

I think one of the biggest reasons he 'freaked me out' with Frozen was because he was "so much older." Yes, "waaay older" to me in March was anyone over 30. But in the last 8 months, the wards I have been a part of have probably had an average age of 29-30. The bulk of my friends in my new ward are 28-34. This guy is 32. And this time around, 32 was no longer weird or freaky to me. Also, he didn't maintain his "puppy" status and 'gave me my space' I guess you could say. Because of that, I was more willing to talk with him, knowing he wouldn't follow me around.

It's just funny that your views of someone can change so drastically in time. I went from almost dreading seeing him to looking forward to it. Seriously, those 'wars' have actually gotten me through some pretty rough days, because it adds some much needed 'comic relief' to my days of stress. And I have actually never before met anyone who gives such amazing backrubs (and trust me, I don't say that lightly - I've had my share of backrubs, and sorry to any who have ever given me one, but he trumps you all!) Talk about a perfect 'de-stresser.' Now, looking back, I don't know if I could have survived this film as well as I did without him to keep me sane. Thank goodness things can and *do* change in time!