what a beautiful mess

This is the mess that I woke up to this morning... and yes it was a beautiful mess and it made me smile. For you see, the mess was created last night with my oldest daughter. The daughter who I haven't seen very often since she moved into her own little apartment a month or so ago. She stopped by last night though and we talked as we always do which then led to us watching a couple of episodes of Julia Childs, The French Chef from the PBS website because of course we have been talking about Julie Powell and Julia Child and French cooking and France and blogs among so many other things.

A few months ago I had shared with her about Julie Powell's blog of her journey cooking Julia's recipes from Mastering the Art of French Cooking. Then I read the book based on the blog and shared that too and I was so excited when I learned about the new movie coming out based on the book and also on Julia's book, My Life in France which I just finished reading. One day while shopping at Whole Foods, Kate, was given a coupon for two free tickets to a sneak preview of the movie and called and asked if I wanted to go with her. Uhmmm.... yes! We had such a nice time and both loved the movie.

And so it was natural for us to talk all things Julie and Julia last night and decide rather late that since neither of us had eaten supper, well, we would try our own version of Julia's omelets which we had just watched on the computer. Kate made the best beschmel (cheese sauce) for them and they turned out wonderful even if we didn't get the hang of the wrist flicking part (but hey Kate did a great job using the scramble with a fork method).

All this telling leads up to why this all made me smile this morning. Going through menopause right now, I am left at times with an empty feeling that no longer will I hold a little one in my arms or chase after a toddler. But I am still blessed. Blessed now in a different way but one as equally rewarding in having adult children. Children who I can share things like cooking Julia's omelets with and for that I am so grateful.

So thank you sweetie. Thank you for growing into such a beautiful young woman who I am proud to call my daughter and who I love spending time with always! And .... what are we cooking next? :)

Note: This picture is from a week or so ago when she finally received her diploma in the mail... her BA in English that she earned and walked for last May... the Magna Cum Laude BA she worked so hard for!