Hello from the old country. For those who have been kind enough to reply to my posts, here are some revelations about Julia, now that I have known her for about a week:
She is feisty, analytical and sometimes emotionally sensitive. At other times she gets it completely wrong.
Coming from a background of philosophy and law, that may not be too surprising.
Politically, she is left-leaning, but has felt that she has, almost unconsciously, developed an increasingly right wing appearance; it isnt that she takes those views to heart, but it more that after nearly 50 years of living among us all, she knows that the fruits of idealism cannot always be easily or practically realised; that hard choices have to be made where resources of time or nature are limited.
She loves art (mainly the post impressionists, but some modern work, too) and literature (Flaubert is a fave, as is Ian M Banks and his ideas of The Culture where highly evolved humans are able to change gender at will). Musically her tastes are conservative with a few twists - Mozart and Chopin for every day listening but when she wants to be moved to tears, which is often, it has to be Beethoven with his all encompassing understanding of the human condition. True for all times and all people. On other occasions she indulges in the odd guilty pleasure like most of us, such as a bit of MeatLoaf, Rainbow or even musical theatre (Les Mis and Evita in particular).
She is a child of her times. As am I.
Although apparently conservative she has a reckless streak - loves inappropriately fast cars and drives a Jaguar. She hasnt quite plucked up courage to race that but she has raced a bike, and didnt do too badly for her age.
I have spoken to her a lot about our relationship this last week. She says, unhelpfully, that it is for me to work out: that she will always be there when I want to speak to her, and that the one thing she can definitely NOT promise, is not to be troublesome. Hmm.
Whether she will be a constant house guest or a distant friend whom I only speak to from time to time, I do not yet know. Her fashion sense is questionable, though she has a clearly defined idea of her own femininity - and thankfully that seems to be more or less appropriate for someone of her age (though who am I to judge?)/
The thing I learned most from speaking to her these last few days is how similar we are. Far more similar than different, in fact. I dont have a biological sibling, let alone a twin, but it is immediately apparent to me that Julia is closer than even a twin. She is me. In a different guise.
Will she stay or will she go away for another 20 years? I dont know. I rather hope she can stay, and in a way that everyone else here is happy with. Like all house guests that may not be possible.
If she decides to leave, though, I know that i can always catch a glimpse of her in my beautiful, talented, confident daughter. She has not met Julia yet and I do not know whether she ever will. If she does, I hope and trust that she will be able to accept, if not love, Dad's mad other half.
TTFN
Julian
