Thursday, January 17, 2013

Thank You, Jodie

by Amy Ruhlin

On the night of the Golden Globe Awards I watched the news as my husband cooked lemon garlic pork chops and mustard greens.  Our plan was a quiet dinner. We had no intention of watching the awards show; it’s really not our thing.  But during a commercial break from the news, I caught a glimpse of the red carpet interviews.
 
Over the hiss of sizzling pork I asked my husband if he wanted to watch the Golden Globes, just for fun.  He said sure, so I found our old bamboo TV dinner trays in the pantry and we parked ourselves in front of the television to take in all of the glamour and glitz.

I knew our college-aged daughter would be watching. I knew that this was something that we could really talk about; something that I could text and tweet to her that would get her attention.  Sometimes she ignores her old mom’s silly texts and tweets.  

I looked for her in my twitter stream. I tweeted about Anne Hathaway’s hair; my daughter adores her and we both think Anne’s short hairstyle is terrific. I sent her texts about Adele and Amy and Tina, three women whom I know she admires.
And then Jodie spoke. And I wondered if my daughter had seen any of her movies. My daughter is 20 after all, and Jodie is my age.  I wondered what she thought of Jodie’s speech so I sent her a text: “Did you see Jodie Foster’s speech?” I wasn’t expecting a reply but she surprised me and texted right back: “Yeah.  She’s so cool.”

Jodie made me glad that I ate my pork chops and mustard greens on a bamboo tray.  She made me proud to be fifty.  She bridged a 30 year age gap between my daughter and me with her simple yet powerful words of love and with her honesty in expressing the universal longing to be understood and to be seen.
Thank you Jodie. Thank you for being a model of vulnerability, authenticity and true strength. This fellow 50-year-old mom and her 20-year-old daughter both think that you are so very cool.

3 comments:

  1. That's so sweet! I didn't like Jodie's babbling nonsensical speech (opinion!) but I am VERY happy it gave you such a wonderful mother/daughter moment in time. So I will also thank Jodie Foster for that! PS I remember Jodie on a TV show I loved, as the next door neighbor on "The Courtship of Eddie's Father"! Do you remember that show? Cathy, An Empowered Spirit

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    1. Omg Cathy I had forgotten about that show! Who played Eddie? Bill Bixby??

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  2. Amy, what a wonderful window into the close relationship you have with your daughter! It is interesting to see how you use your texts and tweets to connect with her. You show how important it is to reach out to our grown children to meet them through their interests, ie the GG Award show. You are a wonderful role model to show us how to stay close even as they no longer live with us.

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