I’m not exactly sure how old my grandmother was when she passed away (80 something, I think) because, at some point in her later years, she decided to count her birthdays backwards. Now, I know you can’t age backwards but I did lose track of her age. She hated getting older. That much was evident. Whenever I asked what she wanted (like for her birthday), she’d say “my youth” in a begrudging tone like someone had stolen it from her. She told me so many stories from her younger days; I wish I had written them down. She was a great storyteller and I credit her for inspiring that in me. (She also inspired in me a love of books, travel and Broadway musicals.) Our relationship wasn’t always a fairytale, though. The MomMom, as I called her, of my youth wasn’t the woman I got to know as a young adult. And I suppose I wasn’t the young spirit she had indulged with too many Barbies, either. We had a falling out when I graduated college that took me until September 11, 2001 to get over (funny … [Read more...]
A Parisian Dessert
I’ve had a love affair with French cuisine for as long as I can remember but my first meal in Paris was not exactly lovely. The meal came at the end of a two-hour walking tour of Paris that was preceded by a full day of touring Versailles on the very first day of a six-week college trip to France. I was tired, jet-lagged and starving but grateful my professor had finally stopped to let us eat. She picked a restaurant we found along on our route that featured a prix fixe menu. I remember the entree choices – in French, of course – were horse burger or fish. I chose the fish. It was the safe option. Or so I thought until it arrived whole from head to tail, eyeballs, bones and all. I spent more time picking out the bones than I did eating the actual fish. This meal did not bode well for the rest of my trip. Fortunately, aside from a meal featuring couscous that left me with a terrible stomach bug, my culinary experiences in France were for the most part positive. My favorite lunchtime … [Read more...]
Joining the Club
Many years ago, way before I had my son, when I was just a single gal with married friends starting families, it annoyed me when those friends insinuated that I just didn’t get “it” because I wasn’t a mother. That I couldn’t understand what it was like to be one until I joined this exclusive club myself. Ok, maybe not. But then explain it to me. I could certainly empathize(or maybe its sympathize) that becoming a mother was indeed a big change. Yeah, not so much. I was naive. It is one of those experiences that you just can’t fully comprehend until you’ve lived it yourself – the monotonous first days, weeks and months; having to take care of ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING for this tiny, human being from the big things like feedings and diaper changes to the little things you take for granted for yourself like clipping fingernails; watching the sun set on a long day, being bone tired, and realizing that the work day is not over yet, not by a long shot. And I wondered, why had one that no one … [Read more...]
Musings About Art
I’m reading The Swan Thieves by Elizabeth Kostova for the From Left to Write Book* club. Its a rather long book so its taking me a while to get through it but I am enjoying it. Its a mystery, which I love, about a psychiatrist who’s trying to find out why his deliberately silent patient attacked a painting at the National Gallery in Washington DC. So far, art is a major theme in this book and every time I pick it up I think about my own experiences with art. I’m not much of an artist by any means but long ago and far away I had a love for working with pastels and studying the Impressionists. I think it began the summer after seventh grade when I attended a summer camp focused on writing and painting. We took a field trip to the National Gallery and that’s where I first set my eyes on the works of Monet, Degas and Renoir – Monet, not to be confused with Manet, was my favorite. I spent the rest of my summer sketching in pastel and writing poetry inspired by their works. There’s a … [Read more...]
Grabbing a Slice of the Balance Cake
I believe that everything happens for a reason. I believe in signs. I believe in synchronicity. I wrote a blog post about my New Year’s resolutions, or goals as I prefer to call them. I wrote about how I prefer to set goals on my birthday rather than January 1 but how I did the reverse this year. I wrote a post that’s probably similar to all the other New Year’s resolution posts that hit the blogosphere on 1.1.11. And then I read an old blog post that someone linked to on Facebook. This blog recommended selecting a word for the year instead of making resolutions. And I began to rethink my post. I struggled with this concept but the word “trust” quickly came to mind… …and then balance …and simplify …and the phrase release control. It was like a flood of words came to mind; I only had to harness them. Fast-forward past the champagne toasts and the much needed New Year’s Day nap and I picked up the copy of Take the Cake that’s been sitting on my night table for weeks. It was my … [Read more...]
