I just scrubbed our bathroom. It reminded me of how I learned to clean as a child. All you need is a washcloth and a tiny bit of rage helps, too.

I saw the movie “Lady Bird” last night. I was so excited to see a coming of age movie that featured a strong girl, one that focuses on her relationship with her mother. I was afraid I would see too much of my life in it: the Catholic school, my strong personality, my mother’s strong personality. But that didn’t happen.

I listened to my teen and her friend laugh at the Catholic school parts because they attend a Catholic high school. But I didn’t see my mom and me in the movie. Sure, I saw parts of it, how my mom and I are also good at arguing. But watching the mom slice her daughter with heavy truths didn’t hit home.

But the movie is sticking with me. The idea of hurt people hurting other people with their words. The idea of how hard life is for a mom balancing working overtime to pay all of the bills. The way Lady Bird makes friends with a girl whose family has so much more money than Lady Bird’s family. How this friend doesn’t understand why Lady Bird is ashamed of her house. How later in the movie when they argue and Lady Bird asks the girl if they are still friends, the friend lies and says sure. Actually she doesn’t really lie, she makes it pretty clear that they aren’t friends anymore. How that former friend calls Lady Bird weird behind her back.

It reminded me of being young, not having enough life experience to understand where other people come from. How where someone comes from shapes them. How hard it is to figure people out. How maybe we can’t figure people out, but we can be kind.

Ah, being kind. Being kind takes so much work. It takes dealing with your own crap so you can step out of it and be present for other people. How no one is perfect at this. How I can see relationships behind me ending at moments where hurt people hurt other people.

Ack, this “Lady Bird” movie, it’s good. These ramblings are only one part of the layers of this movie. Scrubbing the bathroom for an hour gave me time to sort out a tiny bit of what I saw on screen. I could go into the whole idea of clean houses, too, all of these thoughts are more than enough. And my bathroom is clean.