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“Reality can be beaten with enough imagination.” Mark Twain

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Eat, Pray, Love

The movie comes out on Friday. My daughter gave me the book for Christmas and I was excited to read it, but, well...I put it aside. I was having issues with it.

I read the first chapter or two or three. The writer-Elizabeth Gilbert, if I remember correctly, decided she needed to divorce her husband. She didn't go into all the issues because she wanted to respect the privacy of her ex-husband. The issue she talked mostly about was the fact she felt trapped. She decided she didn't want to start having babies and do other things that were expected of her, things she basically agreed to when she said, "I do." Or even before when she said, "Yes." I guess I have a little problem with that. I've been married for over 27 years. My husband is a good man, but he has a head injury and, frankly, wow, how do I want to say this without making either one of us sound less than we are. Well, he's lacking certain qualities I wish he had. I have to do many things I wish he would do, but he can't because his brain doesn't work that way anymore. And honestly, I didn't realize all these things before I said "Yes, I will marry you," and "I do." In some ways, my marriage is not what I thought it would be or what I hoped or envisioned. I don't think many are, but some of us manage to work through the frustration and disappointment, find the good things about the relationship and make it better. I'm sure I have disappointed my husband in many ways, too.

So there's that. Then--well, maybe this is envy speaking but--I would like the opportunity to travel the world to "find myself." I'd also like to travel to lose myself and be myself. EG was fortunate to be a travel writer and had an opportunity to begin her spiritual adventure by working. I'm not sure how the rest was funded, maybe the same way. I certainly don't have a problem with that. But if most people who "found" ourselves had to wait until we could travel abroad to do it, well, we'd be permanently lost.

I have a hunch that "finding oneself" is a recent luxury of middle and upper class America. Most people alive today and who preceded us consider "feeding oneself" and her family a blessing. I'm extremely blessed to be able to sit in my comfy cool home in the desert summer and spout off about a tidbit of pop culture.

I may be missing a lot by not reading this book. Often, however, hyped movies and books leave me feeling, "Really? So what?" Not all the time, but many times. Maybe the movie would be simply a good story if I didn't have issues with the book. And maybe, when the DVD makes it to Netflix, I'll find out.

1 comment:

  1. I haven't read the book either (not because I haven't wanted to, but because my book list is sooo long right now that I need to finish the ones I have first!). Anyway, it sounds good to me!

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