i've found that life gives us very few gifts. good things are either planned or earned, and most of the time we expect the worst. she-ra is a gift. it was a gift in november 2018, a time when i felt lost and broken, and now, 1.5 years later, as i'm getting better every day.

i won't be able to celebrate she-ra eve on the tl bc im avoiding spoilers, but i want to express how grateful i am to the crew for fighting to tell every aspect of this story. there are so many ways to do good in this world, and those who create serve an extremely important role.

it's why i create. it's why i've always created. but it wasn't until she-ra that i felt like someone was creating FOR me, telling a story that i didn't have to stretch or adapt to bring it closer to my heart.

19 years old, and catradora finally made me understand the insane shippers i've seen on the internet for years. i never got that experience, never connected with the love i found in media. finally getting that at 19 was so special, but i also wish i had seen it at 14, 15, 16.

slightly personal: as a young adult lesbian, i've had mostly toxic relationships with other women. being a lesbian with little to no guidance is HARD. being WITH another lesbian in the same headspace is HARD. before she-ra, i doubted that i'd find a healthy, loving relationship.

lesbian/wlw rep that i'd seen prior to she-ra was either way oversimplified and sanitized - cutesy uwu gfs who held hands - or extremely and unrealistically tragic - bury your gays. i was never either of those. no one is.

catra and adora's relationship hit me hard when i unexpectedly came across season 1 of she-ra. i relate to so much of what's going on there, in the good ways and the bad. and even with their angsty plotline and tbd happy ending, the story focused on their messy love.

experiencing this show directly after a traumatizing relationship reminded me that love is out there - and even though i'm complicated and messy, i can find it. i deserve it.

it reminded me of warm feelings i had abandoned during my relationship, the fact that being gay is about LOVING. i was so broken. all i knew was hurt. it was unavoidable. the feelings she-ra unearthed in me were the emotional training wheels i needed to put myself back together.

i saw these two flawed young women, with all their miscommunications and misgivings, and saw myself. they weren't oversimplified-cutesy and they weren't dead. they just WERE. are. whatever.

maybe i'm exposing myself for caring waaaaay too much about a cartoon show about princesses, but honestly i don't really care. this is the kind of stuff i'm going to make. this is the kind of good i want to do for others.

so, bringing it back to crew-ra, if anyone's still reading this long and self-indulgent thread: thank you. it couldn't have been easy. especially during this worldwide crisis, telling stories changes lives. i'm sure you already know all this. i'm still going to say it.

i'm so excited to finish this show at 3am swaddled in a weighted blanket. in some ways, i'll admit she-ra has been a figurative security blanket for the past 1.5 years of my life. it's not that i, or anyone else, needs it. even with motivation, i'm the one doing the work.

i didn't wake up on that day in nov 2018 thinking, "hm, i think i'm going to come home from work and see my roommate watching a show and then binge the entire first season in one night and dedicate an insane amount of thought to the story for the next several years of my life"

she-ra was just a gift. unexpected. something so good and so special that came into my life and made me feel known. despite everything bad in the world, the fact that we can do this for each other is beautiful. we should all get to tell our stories. we should all be known.

and yes, i'm 20 years old and openly admitting my way-overthought love for a cartoon. listen, i would LOVE to see more adult media with lesbian creators who know what the hell they're doing. if all goes well, someday i'll be one myself.

the day before the show ends, this thread is the LEAST i can say (lol). i'll probably have a lot more thoughts after i watch the season. if you're still reading and you agree with any of these sentiments, please take a moment to thank everyone involved in making the show.

anyway i'm tired, happy she ra eve!