The show "Grey's Anatomy" has caused laughter, tears and rage for all of us throughout the years that it has been on TV. For those who have binge-watched it on Netflix, the emotional lability that we feel is especially intense and definitely crosses over to reality. So why keep watching? I know that for me, it's the reality that comes with the multiple Meredith Grey voice-overs that start and finish the episodes, often giving me goosebumps. The following, while definitely not all-inclusive, are some of the major ones that I feel many people can resonate with. Whatever stage of life you are in there is nothing that a good Meredith Grey voice-over can't fix to help keep you going.
1. Season 1- "Save Me"
"The castle, well, it may not be a castle. And it’s not so important that it’s happy ever after just that it’s happy right now. See once in a while, once in a blue moon, people will surprise you. And once in a while people may even take your breath away."
2. Season 2- "The First Cut is the Deepest"
"At some point you have to make a decision. Boundaries don’t keep other people out, they fence you in. Life is messy, that’s how we're made. So you can waste your life drawing lines or you can live your life crossing them.”
3. Season 2- "Thanks for the Memories"
"At the end of the day, the fact that we have the courage to still be standing is reason enough to celebrate."
4. Season 3- "Don’t Stand So Close to Me"
"No matter how much we hurt them, the people that are still with you at the end of the day, those are the ones worth keeping and sure sometimes close can be too close but sometimes that invasion of personal space, it can be exactly what you need."
5. Season 4- "A Change is Gonna Come"
"Change, we don’t like it. We fear it but we can't stop it from coming. We either adapt to change or we get left behind. It hurts to grow. Anybody who tells you it doesn’t is lying. But here's the truth: sometimes the more things change, the more they stay the same. And sometimes, oh, sometimes change is good. Sometimes change is everything."
6. Season 5- "Losing My Mind"
"Don't wonder why people go crazy. Wonder why they don't. In face of what we can lose in a day, in an instant, wonder what the hell it is that makes us hold it together."
7. Season 5- "Now or Never"
"Did you say it? I love you. I don’t ever want to live without you. You changed my life. Did you say it? Make a plan. Set a goal. Work towards it but every now and then look around. Drink it in cause this is it. It might all be gone tomorrow."
8. Season 6- "How Insensitive"
"No matter how thick-skinned we try to be, there’s millions of electrified nerve endings in there.
Open and exposed and feeling way too much. Try as we might to keep from feeling
pain, sometimes it’s just unavoidable. Sometimes that’s the only thing left,
just feeling."
9. Season 7- "Start Me Up"
"It’s all anyone wants, right? Clean slate, a new beginning? Like that’s gonna be any easier. Ask the guy pushing the bolder up the hill. Nothing’s easy about starting over. Nothing at all."
10. Season 8- "If/Then"
"Your life is a gift. Accept it. No matter how screwed up or painful it seems to be. Some things are going to work out as if they were destined to happen, as if they were just meant to be."
11. Season 9- "Run, Baby, Run"
"The body doesn’t know the difference between nerves and excitement, panic and doubt, the beginning and the end. The body just tells you to get the hell out. Sometimes you ignore it. That’s the reasonable thing to do, but sometimes you listen. You’re supposed to trust your gut, right? When your body says run…run."
12. Season 10- "Get Up, Stand Up"
"Failure is inevitable, unavoidable, but failure should never get the last word. You have to hold on to what you want. You have to not take no for an answer and take what’s coming to you. Never give in, never give up. Stand up. Stand up and take it."
13. Season 11- "With or Without You"
"That’s why it’s so important for us to remind ourselves, for us to remember, just because we can live without something doesn’t mean we have to."
14. Season 11- "Only Mama Knows"
"They say we can repress our memories. I wonder if we’re just keeping them safe somewhere because no matter how painful they are, they are our most powerful possessions. They made us who we are."
15. Season 11- "How to Save a Life"
"She told me not to worry. She told me everything would be fine. The carousel never stops turning."
16. Season 12- "Family Affair"
"Maybe there are no boundaries if we choose not to see them. Maybe love is unlimited if we're just brave enough to decide love is limitless. Maybe there's enough happy for everyone."
So raise your glasses to Meredith Grey.
