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genxmusings-blog · 6 years

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Barbies, Brisket, and a Benediction

Before my daughter was born, I bought her first Barbie doll to commemorate the year of her birth. I looked at it as the start of an amazing investment and a great mother/daughter bonding project that we could enjoy for years to come and a legacy to pass down to her daughters and well blah, blah, blah, that particular Barbie is worth about 9 bucks now.

Fast forward a few years and about 35 or 45 barbies later and we did amass a sweet little fashionable collection of just the ones we loved—okay I amassed a collection of the ones I loved—she didn’t really care one bit with the exception of the Audrey Hepburn set that, let’s just say, you’d be nuts not to go gaga over. I did have one favorite that through many years of buying and selling, I would never part with and still have to this day:

My Kate Spade Barbie. She represented to me something so clean, so sophisticated, so elegant, and carefree—everything I wished I could emulate. I even had that exact wicker Kate Spade bag before the doll even was released which prompted me to buy her. I must have repaired the wicker on that bag and put it back on life support for at least 9 years not having a clue who Kate Spade was when I first purchased it back in the early 2000’s. Well, sadly, we know that the woman behind the image of this doll was far from carefree.

Her approach to fashion and beautiful things in their simplicity and their linear grace brought me personally a sense of wonder and appreciation for style, workmanship, creativity, flair and the ability to set a trend that allowed women to enjoy a small indulgence in an industry that so often requires an investment that is entirely out-of-reach for most. I love what Mindy Kaling said of her after the news of her death, (Kate) "encouraged women to find the twinkly person inside them. You couldn't walk into her boutiques and not smile." I’m sorry that Kate could not find that within herself. She will be greatly missed.

When I was in-between jobs up in the Toronto area, I walked dogs. For real. Why not? If it only had paid more, I would probably still be doing it today. Each day, I would get my pre-determined route, my set of house keys and security codes (I was screened—no apparent red flags from my past), and my roster for the day. My usual route would often include the trails along the bluffs of Lake Ontario and the groomed trails that would meander off through the woods behind the various subdivisions on the Lakeshore. Other than the occasional rainy day and a few temperamental dog owners who would literally sit and stare at you Devil-Wore-Prada-style as you came in and walked their dogs (no joke), this was actually a very pleasant season of my life. It also was during the fall and Autumn in Ontario along the lakeshore of Oakville is nothing short of glorious.

My mainstay throughout this was listening to audiobooks. Many times, I would extend a walk or two in order to finish a chapter I was listening to because in early iPod days (no Smartphones to do your bidding), it was very hard to bookmark and God forbid you lost your place. One author I would gorge myself on (pun intended) was a caustic, rude, arrogant, wonderful chef named Anthony Bourdain. I had seen him on segments of different cooking shows and caught random appearances as a guest judge or talking head on the fledgling Food Network or some other Bravo late night fare, but I couldn’t get enough of this guy.

His take on the wonders of the Austin barbeque scene and how extraordinary brisket was if you were willing to wait for the very best (which to this day he still stands behind Aaron Franklin’s), made me want to drive to Austin and sample these delights as soon as I finished scooping up Donner and Blitzen’s, the Shih Tzu twins’ poop. Kitchen Confidential was a revelation to me. Secretly I wanted to be that mean, that outspoken, that foul (a little bit secretly sorta), but there was so much more to him. His love of the culture of others and his respect for the purity and sanctity of their roots and heritage, and his devotion to seeing it preserved and passed down without some franchised chain destroying all of its joyfulness and ancestral delights.

To hear that he could not find any of that joyfulness within himself to the point that he felt the need to take his life was absolutely stunning. I would agree with the words of Ted Allen who said, “Tony Bourdain made the world a smarter, better place, and nobody will forget him.”

Why the benediction?

As a believer in Jesus Christ and a follower of the teachings of the Bible, I hold tightly to scripture as God’s Word—as truth—as surely as I know anything else that is true in my life, I stand firm in that belief. I cannot and will not second-guess where people like Kate Spade or Anthony Bourdain placed their faith.

I have known the most pious spiritual evangelical verse-spewers to be some of the most dreadful unpleasant hypocritical toxic people I have ever met. I have also known some pretty questionable characters who have lived on the fringe of what I would call a conservative Christian lifestyle who do little to evoke the costuming of what the Southern Baptist Convention would dress one up to look like if there were a uniform; yet because of their faith in Jesus Christ, their place in heaven is no less valid. I can question and ponder the choices of other’s all day long--but life is too short, time is too precious, and my own mirror is too much in need of a good polishing of its own.

See through a glass darkly (oil on linen)

This is the benediction I wrote as an exit for Sunday morning church services several years ago and these are the words I will leave you with:

God bless you and keep you as we journey from this place.

May Your love encircle every heart and illuminate each face.

Let His loving arms protect you, and His wisdom guide your way.

As we leave this sanctuary now, and we celebrate each day.

May you celebrate each day.

#katespade #anthony bourdain #despair #benediction #hopefulness #suicide #jesus christ #bibletruth #kitchenconfidential #franklinbarbeque #celebrateeachday

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