I had one of those rare opportunities to meet a living legend last night: Jane Fonda. When I told my dad, earlier in the day, that I’d be meeting her, he excitedly reminded me that he’d taken part in the Concerned Officers Movement, a non-sanctioned network of commissioned officers, including some psychiatrists, when he was in the Navy during Vietnam. I grew up with his stories about his visits to the ships, his work in the hospital, and how he was able to really help some of the sailors, and I felt proud.

Sitting in a room full of women listening to Jane Fonda read from her memoir (My Life So Far) and then field questions about life, hope, and activism, I felt pride in a woman I had no claim to feel so personally proud of. But proud is what I felt. Proud, perhaps, just to know that there are humans like her. And wishing that this current war had a Jane Fonda, too. (Jodie Evans, of CodePink, was among those at the event, and I salute her here as well.)

And just a note to Girl Sailor, my blogging connection to the military and to the brave and heartfelt perspective of a female soldier: I feel proud of you too.

Ok, am signing off, before I get too verklempt here this morning. But I’ll just say this: it’s so easy to get hardened in this crazy faraway town called NYC, and listening to Jane opens that part of your heart that lets a lot of feeling in, and makes you want to change the world. Again and again and again.

For Purse Pundit’s take on the evening, click here. And gratitude to the WMC for facilitating the evening.