If I could meet anyone it would be...Jane Austen

There are just some people I would love to meet. If I could meet Jane Austen, I would be happy. And I'm not talking about a cute meet and greet, like a book signing. I want a real-life personal encounter. Maybe a nice dinner or lunch, or even better... a coffee date. Meals sometimes get in the way of good conversations. Or even better, let's substitute coffee with wine. That way her repressed 19th century victorian-self could  open up a bit.

First, of course I would tell her how much I love her work, especially Pride and Prejudice, even though it's a bit cliche, it's just the best of all her books. Next I'd ask her, what her deal was with marriage. Every heroine in her book ends up happy at the end because she gets married to the "love of her life". But the ending is always the wedding or beginning of a new marriage. And that's supposed to be the happy ending. The problem is that there are plenty of married people in Jane Austen's books, and most of them are unhappy couples. I understand that Jane (I'm assuming we'll be on a first name basis once we have a meeting together) meant that you need to find the one you love, who loves you, and these feelings must be sincere in order for you to truly be happy together. But it can't just end there because marriage is hard. Being in any relationship is difficult. And the betrothed never dated, never really talked about their true interests, likes and dislikes.

But then again, there wasn't much for them to do in the early 1800s, and when I mean there wasn't that much to do I mean that there were no airplanes, so long-distance travel was only by boat and rather difficult, there was no TV or movies, but there were plays and operas, so I guess that would satisfy my cultural needs. But most importantly, there wasn't that much for a woman to do except keep the home (or if you were rich enough someone would have done that for you as well as educating your children).

Anyway I'm getting side-tracked. What I would really want to ask her is whether she believed the women were really happy after they got married. And if she assumed that was the answer for true happiness. Also, if she wished that had happened to her because she never married.

I'd also like to give her a pair of pants. I think she'd really enjoy wearing pants and comfortable shoes, considering the clothing she was forced to wear all the time. Sure it's gorgeous, but how uncomfortable are those dresses, really?

And hopefully she'll say a few of her great witty one-liners. That would be fantastic.