This
year at my school I have taken on a mini-second job selling tickets or
merchandise at the sporting events- football, basketball, volleyball and
soccer. It’s been fun to see my students at athletic events, catch up
with faculty and parents, watch all the different sports, and get some
extra money (I get paid very well
for the hours/what I do). The job is awesome- I usually read while I
sit at a table selling or taking tickets, or I use my waiting table
skills to convince people to buy awesome school gear (QUEEN of
merchandise is my 2nd name).
Anyways, the point to all this is that I read a lot during the time I sell tickets. My reading has slowed down greatly since the summer, but I have read The Great Gatsby (LOVED it) and am currently reading Julie & Julia. In Julie & Julia, a book about a young woman’s quest to cook all of Julia Child’s recipes in Mastering the Art of French Cooking and her hectic life during that time, the narrator talks about many aspects of being a woman in the 21st century. One topic she focused on in the chapter I read last night was marriage and children. Her brother commented to her that her friend must not be “the marrying kind,” since she is 30ish and not married, and it set her off. She herself is married, but she took offense that he said women are “born a certain way” to not be married. To her, any woman can be married or not married; it just depends on who she meets and what is going on in her life. She also questions motherhood often and what it must have been like for Julia Child to 1). Not get married until her 30’s and 2). to not have children during an age (1950’s/60’s) when that is what women were supposed to do.
I have often wondered how my life would be different had I been a 25 year old in the 1950’s/60’s. I would probably be married, with kids and without the level of education I received. Would I have been ok with my life like that with the same personality I have now? I don’t know. It would certainly be true to say that I probably wouldn’t have been expecting to go to college and knew that marriage and family was my life path, but being the high-achiever that I am, would I have approached that aspect of my life in the same way I now approach school and work? Or would I have been the crusader who fought for women’s rights and dared to break the mold? Who knows. Our personality is so much nature AND nurture that born in a different era, many parts of my nature would have been different. But would it have changed the fundamentals of who I am?
Julia Child definitely broke the mold, career and family wise, which is what the narrator was alluding to in her annoyance of her brother’s statement. Anyone can get married and have children and, honestly, anyone can’t. Children and marriage aren’t the premium deciding factors of a successful life. Life gets in the way of our plans or changes our paths- some who always want children or marriage won’t have either and others who never wanted that will. So maybe we shouldn’t rush to label others or even ourselves. I have often said that “I am not the marrying kind,” but maybe that is the wrong statement for me to use. I should remain open to anything life throws at me and know that I will be ok where ever my journey takes me, because I have a lot of love to give to the right person.
I am just very thankful that I live in the time I do where I have that choice and where society won’t shun me into a corner (for the most part) either way. Thanks, Julie/Julia.
