On My Mind

This is a portion of an interview with Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray, Love from O Magazine. 

You tell a story in the book that is pivotal for you, about your grandmother. She was born with a cleft palate and thought to be unmarriageable, so she got an education and took care of herself, one day rewarding herself with a $20 fur-trimmed, wine-colored coat, which she adored. Eventually she does marry. And when she gives birth to her first daughter, she cuts up the coat to make something for the child.


Gilbert: That's the story of motherhood, in a large way. You take the thing that is most precious to you, and you cut it up and give it to somebody else who you love more than you love the thing. And we tend to idealize that, and I'm not sure we should. Because the sacrifice that it symbolizes is also huge. Her marriage and her seven children, in a life of constant struggle and deprivation — it was heavy. And that beautiful mind, that beautiful intellect, that exquisite sense of curiosity and exploration, was gone.

Hmmm...I feel a post coming.  But not today, because I have to cut something precious up and give it away in the form of cleaning up after Christmas holiday, and while I do, this will be burning around in my brain, gurgling up in my chest, and will perhaps have to pour out onto paper; it's just not sitting well after digestion.  Not at all.

For the whole interview go here.