an inability to coordinate my thoughts…says she

Come here and chat with me, you can sit here on this uncomfortable chair that feels as though it will tip you over.  Little chairs are so inconveniently pretty, don’t you think?

Before I begin writing I should probably apologize…because I am kind of embarrassed for falling prey to a trend.  But I can’t hold it in any longer.

I love Julia Child.

I didn’t really love her before the whole Julie & Julia movie/blog bust. 

Years ago I only watched her when there was nothing else on, and I mean absolutely nothing else.  And now I feel bad about that.

I watched the movie the day it came out in theaters and I liked it.  Then I bought my daughter her cookbook for Christmas and I loved it.  Then I watched  a ton of old episodes of The French Chef and now I’m nearly done with her biography: My Life In France.  And I am forever changed.  I almost feel as though I can’t finish the book because I will miss her.  Does this happen to you?

 

Outside of her obsession with cooking, she was smart and creative

and had an incredible wit. 

Sometimes her words strike something emotional in me…whether it is how she sees herself, or her reflections of thoughts of her parents and politics but especially when I read of her getting adjusted to living life abroad. 

“Upon reflection, I decided I had three main weaknesses: I was confused (evidenced by a lack of facts, an inability to coordinate my thoughts, and an inability to verbalize my ideas); I had a lack of confidence, which caused me to back down from forcefully stated positions; and I was overly emotional at the expense of careful, “scientific” thought.  I was thirty-seven years old and still discovering who I was.”

Sometimes I exhaust myself with thinking.  But it is always unorganized thinking and pretty much never productive.  And that’s why I admire her because at 37 she had a thought and a whim and created something productive and fulfilling to herself. 

After watching the French Chef I learned that I would like to be a better cook.  I don’t want to buy my meat wrapped in styrofoam and plastic. 

Also I wanted large clear glass bowls. I looked everywhere and then gave up.  Then one day I went into Albertson’s (the one where I bought three cake mixes with mites in them and vowed never to go back)  and there were 4 quart glass bowls just like Julia’s for $4.99.

I think they had been sitting on that shelf since the 1960’s.

It’s funny how you can spend so much time searching for something and it’s been right under your nose the whole time.

Thanks Julia for teaching me that  it’s okay to still be discovering who I am.