Have you ever been in a phase where you think you are beautiful as the dawn?  If not, you didn’t have my mother.

Every day of my childhood, while I chewed gum and read Lord of the Rings, my mother told me how beautiful I was. I cannot even tell you how many actresses I looked EXACTLY like, only better.  I’d look in the mirror and say, Nah.

Fortunately, I didn’t want to be an actress, so I paid little attention.  My friends and I did NOT think we were beauties.  Our goal was to grow up and own a bookstore in Scotland. (Why Scotland? ) We were great readers, and particularly struck by Jane Eyre, The L-Shaped Room, and Doris Lessing.

At 10 or 11, we giggled over imaginary marriage prospects.  These weren’t realistic, they were just humorous.  We couldn’t decide between James Taylor, Christopher Jones in Wild in the Streets (the worst movie ever), or a couple of smart boys in our class who actually talked to us. 

Later, as adults, we had boyfriends who really liked us.  We took classes together, we went to foreign films, we hung out at the Union, we walked in the parks. Later, we married. An excellent decision!

Buy I still laugh at my mother’s belief that I was a nymph in The Odyssey, Audrey Hepburn in any number of movies, or possibly her friend’s incredibly lovely daughter, who once read her favorite fairy tale to me.