While there are some who end up getting confined to their homes due to house arrest, there are others who must do the same because of serious health issues and that’s precisely the premise of the movie “Everything, Everything”.
“Everything, Everything” is about a 17-year old girl named Maddy Whittier (Amandla Stenberg) who has something called Severe Combined Immunodeficiency Disorder (SCID), which in simple terms is a rare condition where one’s antibodies are not able to property fight off infection. Because of this, for as far back as she can remember, Maddy has been restricted to the safe confines of her sterile home where her companions have only ever been her mother Pauline (Anika Noni Rose), her nurse Carla (Ana de la Reguera) and Carla’s daughter Rosa (Danube Hermosillo). And other than an online support group that she occasionally chats with, Maddy has no one else to occupy her life with except her creative architecture projects. That all changes though when she stares out her bedroom window one day and catches the eye of her new neighbor, Olly Bright (Nick Robinson), as he’s moving in. Later that day, Olly attempts to visit her by bringing a gift in the form of a Bundt cake, which both he and the gift are promptly turned away by Pauline, who makes it abundantly clear that she wants no one else to be a part of Maddy’s life. Yet fate has another plan, as one evening when Maddy stares over into the window across from hers, she realizes it’s Olly’s room when he suddenly appears, smiles, and waves at her. He then proceeds to show her his sense of humor by doing some funny things to the failed Bundt cake gift and soon they begin to connect more and more after he writes his cell phone number on his bedroom window. Before long, Maddy begins to feel something she’s never quite felt before and that’s a longing to live life to its fullest, no matter what the cost and this is something I truly could relate to.
Living life to its fullest is something I’ve haven’t been able to do much of in recent years due to my own health issues. And while I don’t know exactly what it would feel like to spend over 16 years of my life living in my house like Maddy had to, never once being able to step foot outside, I still could relate, as I’ve had to watch much of the world go on around me, engaging in plenty of things I haven’t been able to do, ever since my health physically declined a number of years ago. So even though I’ve been free to walk out of my house every single day without potential consequences unlike Maddy, it still has felt like I’ve been in a prison of sorts like her home was to her in the film.
Yet, at the same time, after watching this movie, I had a lot more gratitude in life with the realization there are people just like Maddy in the real world, who are permanently stuck in their homes or in hospital beds due to their own health issues, as thankfully I’m currently not one of them. There are days though when I do wake up and struggle to get out of bed due to the level of pain I feel, but I always push myself to still get up and eventually walk out my front door to participate in life, because I know that tomorrow may never come and I too want to live life to its fullest and choosing to remain home is not doing that at all.
So, although I may not be able to do various things yet that I long to do again, like rock climb, hike, and go to amusement parks, I have a spiritual drive within me just like Maddy did, that keeps me going. And while Olly’s unconditional love for Maddy became the spark she needed to eventually break free from her prison and begin living life more to its fullest, God’s unconditional love of me is that which continues to drive me to do the same.
The bottom line is that I truly believe unconditional love, no matter where it comes from, is strong enough to overcome anything, just like it was for Maddy in the movie “Everything, Everything” and like it will be with me in life one day too…
Peace, love, light, and joy,
Andrew Arthur Dawson
