¡Inhala, exhala!

If you know, you know! I recently binge watched and finished a brilliant show (in my opinion) called Jane the Virgin. I say brilliant because the writers and actors in turn were able to bring two worlds together—the soap opera and the telenovela. Why was I hooked? you might ask. Maybe because my mom jokingly teases that I interrupted her General Hospital viewing the day I was born at 2:14 p.m. literally during airtime of her soap. Maybe it's because my aunts watched (and still do) novelas in the evenings. My mom watched one that I remember —El Pecado de Oyuki. I sat through some of the episodes with her and I got hooked! Maybe it was that I scheduled my college courses around General Hospital. Uh, priorities, right? I watched it every summer when I was teaching. I would read daily updates to keep up with what was happening in Port Charles during the school year! I think you get the point of where I am going with this!

I am in awe of the writers of these shows. I marvel at how they can twist the plot on a dime, and bring people back from the dead like no one's business. In this particular show the main character, Jane, is an aspiring writer when we first meet her and that promptly caught my attention. Each episode was a "chapter" in the story of the Villanueva family. Episode 99 is a cast interview and recollection of their five years together. The constant I heard through the interviews ws the strength of the three generations of women at the heart of the story and the love of family and a HEA (Happily Ever After). Gee, some of my favorite themes!

I could relate to Jane's character in so many ways—as a Catholic girl trying to be good, having a plan, being a dreamer, a romantic, a reader of books and a writer. I'm just grateful that my life didn't have crazy plot twists like hers!

Acknowledging that the series is a work of fiction is easy. What is not fictional is the skill and the talent of all the minds and hearts that came together to give this story/show life. That is where the true magic lies: words written and performed.

Something that one of the actresses brought up was the topic of representation. She said that she grew up not seeing someone like herself on television screen, and that is something that endeared this show to me. Like I said I could relate on many levels. This goes back to the idea that we all have stories to tell. Everyone's story is important. One powerful statement made statement made by matriarch of the Villanueva family was, "...of many, one." She meant that we are many individuals, but we are part of each other's stories and out of many, we are one. Isn't that powerful?

Here are a few of my favorite lessons learned from the show:

• be brave

• when you have a dream, follow it

• we need our families

• families aren't always connected by blood

• accept changes you didn't see coming

• faith looks different for all of us; we need to respect that

• being a dreamer is perfectly acceptable

• happy endings can and do come true, and

• when the craziness of life gets to you,

¡Inhala, exhala! (Inhale, exhale!) Readjust, recalibrate and keep moving forward.