I just finished reading Jen Lancaster's latest genius contribution to my book library. Entitled My Fair Lazy, it discusses Jen's realization that she needs a bit of culture in order to not embarrass herself in social situations, the beginnings of her cultural "Jenaissance" and the culmination of said Jenaissance--an author's night amongst some socially elite peeps at a East Coast mansion. The stories told along the way are truly Jenesque. Hilarious. True-life. And told with Jen's unique author's voice. She speaks/writes the way I think. She is my age. We have the same general background, experience, feelings, memories, and mind. Therefore I relate to her books like none other that I've ever read.
The point of my blog today tho isn't to give a review of the book. Because truly it would be a completely and totally biased love-gushing kind of thing that only Jen herownself would want to read. I adore this woman, her stories and the way she writes. Period. If you're a 30- or 40-something female, read Jen. Heck, if your female, read Jen. If you like to laugh, read Jen. (Although for the first time ever, Jen made me cry. Jen? Page 248? I've totally been there. It's brutal. I couldn't believe you made me cry, but thank you, none-the-less, for including this.)
My point today is what Jen writes near the end of the book, on page 365. At the end of her Jenaissance, after her successful trip East amongst her peers and the socially elite, Jen realizes (partially because of (her dog) Maisy's illness) that our time on earth is limited and that we need to make the best of our time here and live each day to the fullest. Sound familiar? Pretty sure I've blogged about that very thing myself in one of my "life-perspective-that-being-a-cancer-survivor-has-given-me" blogs. Lemme quote Jen's book:
"If we can't come up with some kind of alchemy to stop the aging process, then were obligated to make the most of what we have, and the best way to do that is expand the depth of our experiences."
She goes on to suggest that we
"...fill our lives with a million new experiences, even if sometimes they're unpredictable or scary or take effort"
and
"Essentially, we realized we need to keep diving in. And if we do, our lives won't be richer for being long; our lives will be richer for having lived."
Well said Jen....well said.
