I was at Ravenna Third Place books yesterday picking up some stuff for the kids. I found my way to the non-fiction table, and picked up a few things, including Bill Bryson's new book on the year 1927. Nearby was a book called The Astronaut's Wives Club: A True Story by Lisa Koppel about the women who were married to men in the space program in the 1960's. It looked fascinating, but I was afraid to read it. When I got home, I couldn't remember the other books I bought, but I remembered the one I didn't. I guess I don't have the gumption right now to read about women back in the day who quietly smiled, wore perfect hair and lipstick and stood by their men.
Or maybe I should. Not that I want to read a primer on how to be a throwback (egads), but perhaps it shows the underbelly of being the second bananas to the bravest men in the world. But at the end of the day, we all have to be married to someone, don't we? While we have a choice, why happens to those who fall in love with someone who is inaccessible?
Speaking of inaccessible, I saw a headline in a Good Housekeeping magazine at a newsstand in Victoria last week. Rockstar Sheryl Crow was on the cover, and it talked about her going on blind dates. (Sidebar: Really? Sheryl Crow on a blind date? Would she want to date someone who doesn't know who she is? I doubt it, because the only people who have never heard of her must be 25 years out of her age range or have been living under and rock and never turned on the radio in the past 20 years. Anyhow.) I love Sheryl Crow, and I found a copy of the magazine in the waiting room while the Big E was getting her teeth pulled. Sheryl said when she dated famous men, she felt smaller. She was living in their shadows, not a place she wanted to be.
Speaking of Sheryls, I am also afraid to read Lean In: Women, Work and the Will to Lead by Sheryl Sandberg. Why am I afraid to read this? I support women working and in leadership roles. I used to work, and I have been President of at least six different groups in my life, plus numerous roles on boards. I guess I am afraid to read it and see that I have failed to lean in and take corporate America by storm like I should have. Instead, I slunk away and crawled off the track years ago when I had kids.
But not to be depressed! In comes Bernadette! I am making Jack read Where'd You Go Bernadette by Seattle author Maria Semple. This book reflects the plight of many middle-aged American women, women who once held promising future which were derailed by factors outside of their control. We watch Bernadette's demise, and then grabbing back control. It is wonderful. Even two years after I first read it, it lingers in my mind. When I posted on Facebook that I bought a copy, multiple friends asked to borrow it. No less than eight people have read it other than me. It made its way around northeast Seattle in two months, with one person finishing and passing it on to the next. I wish I had everyone who read it sign it just for the record. So it touched a chord not just with me, but with many of the people I know.
Maybe I can read those other books, knowing I have Bernadette to safely come back to.
This blog is about the little and big thoughts that pop into my head. I once read that when Flannery O'Connor walked into a bookstore, she would want to edit her published works with a red pen. In the digital world, we have the luxury of tweaking things up after we've hit the publish button. I can be a perfectionist/procrastinator, where waiting for the ideal means little gets done. Here I will share what is not--and likely will never be--perfect.
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