Farewell to Everwood

[Update: Two Everwood videos on YouTube added to this post - A Tribute Video and Kyle's Coming Out Video. See below.]

I hate the fact that I just watched the Series finale of Everwood. And I know that this has got to seem incredibly cheesy or teeny bopper or perhaps even pathetic that I'm taking the time to write a blog post about a television show - what could this possibly have anything to do with worlds colliding? - but you've got to understand that watching Everwood has shaped my journey.

The show has been on for four years. It coincided with my own life because four years ago I had been in self-recovery mode - the year prior, in 2001, I literally hit rock bottom (I know i haven't said much about this particular period in my life on this blog, perhaps when I'm ready) and 2002 was the year God started mending me. Four years ago, I left an old life behind and I was starting fresh all over again. But re-starting my life didn't come easy, especially when I was trying to do it while still in the midst of living through the fall out of the past.

I found a place to relate in Everwood. It's a fictional small town in Colorado that the show takes place in. The Brown family moved there from big city New York after the death of wife and mother Julia Brown. The Brown's were starting over - and so was I . . . .

I lost count of the number of times I literally cried while watching an episode of Everwood. This is significant for me because I really needed to cry during this time of my life. I couldn't cry on my own. My life had crumbled to pieces and I hadn't fully mourned the loss of the life I once knew. But the writers of this show masterfully brought me into the lives of the characters and I was able to grieve with them. I was able to grow with them.

In a television show, God spoke to me. It was a way that God could communicate with me, journey with me, in a visible and audible way. I heard and felt His comfort because He continued to whisper to me, while watching this show, that I am like them. And as the characters were able to move on with their lives, He showed me that I could also move on with mine. I know, I re-read this and I think how cheesy this sounds. But it helped to visually see what grief, anger, sorrow, regret, forgiveness, healing, recovery and celebration looked like.

I saw that joy after the pain was possible. It pointed out the realities of my past that I tried to ignore or forget. It acknowledged the frustration and struggle that I endured and felt like no one understood. It showed me a perspective of the lives of those I hurt. More importantly, it showed me that I deserve to be able to move on too.

So Everwood wasn't simply a fictional show for me. It was a tool that God used to catalyze my healing. And while I'm sad that it's over, and i'm incredibly irritated at the tv networks WB and UPN who merged and axed the show, I'm now aware of just how powerful a tool that storytelling is. Just as many of you have been reading Two World Collision and found a place to relate in my story, together we find a place to heal in all of our stories.

I have loved receiving and reading the numerous emails from around the world over the past 10 months from people telling me their stories - crying with me, laughing with me, journeying with me on this blog. We've all come such a long way.

Everwood may have been cancelled, but our journey never will!