Get Inspired, Get Seen: Why I Needed ‘A Wrinkle In Time’

When buying movie tickets for A Wrinkle in Time for my mom and I, I feared I might be too far removed from the book I loved once to open my heart to the film adaptation. Am I too old, too jaded to receive whatever the message would be? I read the book when I was in the fourth or fifth grade and loved it. Had I changed? I was wrong. I need you to know that I cried throughout this whole, entire film. From wiping away a few silent tears to openly sobbing into my sweatshirt, hoping no one noticed me. Why the waterworks? I kept seeing myself in Meg Murray again and again, scene after scene. This was the movie I needed. **Details about the movie follow** Trauma and Balance Teenager Meg is living her days with a father who is gone, disappeared. She rebuffs the cruelties of her peers and adults alike who comment on and mock her and her broken family. There is trauma present in Meg, in her life at home, and it manifests and takes root, lingering. Every time the group “tessers” or moves to new place with untold miles between them, everyone else makes the transition fine. Meg is the only one disoriented. Making transitions is difficult, painful even for our girl. Traumas that aren’t dealt with come back to us, don’t they? With her heart on her sleeve, Meg tells Mrs. Which that she wishes she could come back as someone else, not herself. Mrs. Which softens—Meg is a girl without confidence. Meg is me. I’ve jokingly been known to say that my mom is my biggest cheerleader, that even when I …