The memorable musings of Catherine O’Hara’s character, Moira Rose, on “Schitt’s Creek” have been greater than leisure for me. Moira was my touchstone as I struggled with the fact of an unusually transient life, having lived in 29 houses by the age of 46.
After I heard that O’Hara had died final week, I nestled underneath my favourite sofa blanket and hit play on “Schitt’s Creek.” I’d seen the collection numerous instances, usually quoting the hilarious strains that she delivered with such singular eccentricity — dripping with sequin-laced crafty.
Just like the Rose household, I used to be pressured to maneuver. As a baby, new addresses have been offered as progress — to your dad’s job — as my household absorbed an ethos within the ’80s and ’90s to go the place alternative sprouted. For me that meant 5 colleges in 5 years between the ages of 13 and 18, with solely the promise that I used to be turning into a wonderful decide of character by being dropped into new social milieux again and again. As an grownup, shifting turned quieter and extra tinged with disgrace, prompted by divorce, a layoff and hire hikes each handful of years as I attempted to “make it” within the massive metropolis.
I began watching “Schitt’s Creek” in 2018 because the ink was drying on my second set of divorce papers. I used to be 40 on a depart of absence from my high-profile government advertising job. Most days I wandered by means of my three-story suburban dream home, mendacity on my stepchildren’s beds and sobbing. Moira’s quips introduced me nearer to a smile than the rest on the time as she referred to as her TV son, David, a “disgruntled pelican,” and as she famously didn’t know how you can “fold in” the cheese.
Mine was an emotional smash, and I associated deeply to the present. The Rose household had fallen from affluence to poverty, discovering themselves residing in a small-town motel. Simply as that they had a tough time adjusting to their chapter, I felt the same ache of not being the place I wished to be in life. I’d quickly erect a for-sale signal on that lush inexperienced yard and transfer to a condominium someplace, removed from the idyllic cul-de-sac, the animal-shaped cookie cutters and the extreme dishwasher cycles that punctuated my blessed household life. Like Moira, I had no alternative however to simply accept my gutting circumstances.
Moira survived displacement by turning it into theater. O’Hara managed the character’s outbursts as significant, taking part in every scene with lovable eccentricity. How a lot I associated to one in all her quotes — “This wine is terrible. Give me one other glass!” — as I poured low-cost grocery retailer wine for myself, hoping someway a drunken fog would undo the ache of unpacking stemware in a brand new kitchen that didn’t really feel like my very own.
Her unabashed nature modeled an vitality, if not a humorous script, once I returned to work after what appeared to some a mysterious six-month absence. In an episode wherein the web and her neighbors suppose she has died, Moira walks into her Jazzagals rehearsal beaming: “Worry not. She hath risen.” I summoned that very essential character vitality once I strutted again into my workplace — and picked proper again up on the company whirlwind of conferences with needy co-workers who took the cue from me and acted like I had by no means left.
Moira was there for me on and off as I attempted to settle into a brand new life and cease the sample of shifting each couple years. However, in 2024 my landlord stated he was elevating the hire by an exorbitant $400 a month. Rates of interest had climbed, and the housing market was stagnant. There was little stock that can be purchased, so I moved right into a backyard condominium with a month-to-month lease till circumstances improved. I wished to crawl into my closet and fold the door closed simply as Moira did throughout her hysterical meltdowns.
As an alternative, I summoned the icon’s stronger moments. When the Roses misplaced every thing, Moira wore wigs to the grocery retailer, pronounced “bébé” like she was inventing a brand new language, and, most critically, by no means compromised her dignity. As an alternative of harassing myself over my housing stability as proof of a personality flaw, I reframed my strikes as a whimsical plot twist, simply as she had.
Yet one more transfer lastly introduced me to a townhouse I hope to name house for many years to come back. Moira even modified how I moved in. I didn’t fold myself right into a smaller model to suit the area; I as an alternative arrived with a touch of defiance and the enduring perception that being uprooted doesn’t need to imply being undone.
I as soon as seen my 29 strikes as 29 failures to maintain stability, and people in maturity as failures to construct the life I wished. O’Hara did quite a bit for me: She performed her character on a high quality fringe of faltering poise that confirmed me it was acceptable for me to do the exact same.
I’m lastly settled now, my packing containers unpacked in an area that feels everlasting. But when the floorboards ever shift once more, I’ll be navigating it with my proverbial favourite wig prepared. Similar to my Moira.
Andrea Javor is a Chicago-based freelance author and advertising government engaged on her memoir about poker and love.
