career goals

When I was in grad school, I had the obituary of Peg Phillips, the actress who played storekeeper Ruth-Anne Miller on Northern Exposure, pinned up next to my desk. She was an accountant and amateur actress who decided, after her retirement, to study drama at the University of Washington. According to her Wikipedia article, "she started acting professionally in her late 60s." That, I thought, is awesome. I was only in my 20s at the time...but maybe I already had a little inkling that I was on the find-your-passion-at-65 track?

Today I was talking to a certain friend who is skeptical of my theology course hobby. "Why are you doing this?," he said, "do you really think you're going to find God in those books somewhere?"
"No," I replied, "...it's just...they're interesting, and I haven't come up with a better plan."
"Why don't you cook your way through Julia Child's cookbook or something? At least that would taste good."

At this point I think a light bulb may literally have appeared above my head. That's it! Julia Child was a trailing spouse with a brain and nowhere to use it. So what did she do? She signed up for cooking classes at the Cordon Bleu school because she was in Paris and it was there. At age 40, she started teaching French cooking to American women in her own Paris kitchen. At 49, she published her first cookbook. At 51, her cooking show debuted on TV.

All is not lost. I am going to be the Julia Child of German theology! LOL 😂