Wish You Were Here

It happened often in the first few years after my mom died. I’d read a book or see a movie and just yearn to share it with her. I guess it’s no surprise that we shared a lot of common interests, a few of which happened to be food, cooking and reading. Bonus points if it was a book about food (really, does it get any better?).

One of the last books we enjoyed together was Tender at the Bone, by Ruth Reichl, former New York Times restaurant critic and Gourmet magazine editor. I can’t look at my tattered copy without thinking of my mom.

My mom didn’t get a chance to read the sequel (to be honest, she didn’t miss much, it wasn’t so hot). More things she missed that I know she would have loved: It broke my heart that she never got to see the movie version of Bridget Jones's Diary (boy did we have some laugh-fests over that book) or read White Oleander (also made into a movie that was eh-just OK not nowhere near as great as the book). Of course, aside from books and movies, there are so many things that I would have loved to have shared with her. Speaking of food, I still can’t wrap my brain around the fact that she never got to dine at Erin’s restaurant, to feast her eyes upon a plateau de fruit de mar.

It doesn’t happen much anymore that I see something I want to share with her. Sure, there are pangs here and there, little wistful thoughts of Oh Mom would have loved this. But you know, “After a great pain, a formal feeling comes,” and all that. It’s like my brain has shut that part of my life down.

But then this book and this book came along, and they’ve turned it into this movie:

It opens in a few weeks and is being heavily promoted here in New York City.

I can’t speak for the movie, I haven’t seen it yet. But I loved the books. Julie & Julia: Yes, I laughed, I cried. It has the perfect combination of sarcasm and self-deprecating humor and heart, all of which I love. Oh and also it’s about food, so really, it can’t go wrong. And another bonus (!), it also concerns one of my and my mom’s heroes, Julia Child. How can you not love a woman who says things like: “The only time to eat diet food is while you're waiting for the steak to cook.”

The other book the movie is based on was equally wonderful in different ways. It’s the last book Julia Child contributed to before her death in 2004, and it tells the story of her early years in France with her husband Paul. Really, it’s about how Julia came to be the icon she is today, but it’s told in her adorable, endearing no-nonsense and often, yes, self-deprecating voice.

I know my mom loved Child's joie de vivre (French for "joy of life"), the way she seemed to go through life playing by her own rules, without concern for how others might view her (certainly not worried about feeding her guests food that may have briefly touched the floor--what they don't know won't hurt them, right?) .

I also think my mom admired Child’s admitted “late bloomer” status. My mom visited Europe for the first time in her mid-40s. Child showed that it’s never too late to be the person you want to be. My mom had just discovered the joys of wine drinking and real (like, from France!) French food. She was just getting started.

And did I mention the movie adaptation stars Meryl Streep, another one of my all time favorites (my mom also happened to love her) so again, I’m not too concerned. And I marvel at this perfect storm of Mom-would-have-loved-this-and-gosh-darn-it-I-wish-she-was-here-to-share-it-with-me. I’d sneak out of work early on opening day to see it with her.

Instead I’ll just comfort myself with the hope that she’ll be somewhere, not far from me, on the movie’s opening weekend with a large popcorn and a diet Coke, enjoying it right along with me, (heck, maybe even Julia Child will be there too!). You never know.

I hope it’s true.