I don’t know what to tell you. Except that, maybe you’re bound to meet Martha Stewart if you’re a stay-at-home-mom/blogger living near the birthplace of her empire long enough. ‘Meet’ might be generous — Martha barely glanced my way, before signing and handing over a copy of her re-released first book Entertaining. The dismissiveness was tacitly on-brand, and totally amusing. (The lovely woman in front of me didn’t even get a photo — her long-awaited moment interrupted by a phone call!) A younger version of me would have taken the lack of conversation pretty hard, but I’m old enough to know it was a privilege to even fly this close to a sun.

At her cultural apex, in my 20s, I wasn’t entirely sure what to make of Martha Stewart. I’m ashamed to admit I mostly fell for the picture the media circus painted — difficult, demanding, deserving of what she got (…even jail). Every time I slacked on thoroughly scraping down the sides of my stand mixer, I’d think about what she might say. Only a compelling figure can get into your pumpkin muffins like that. But it wasn’t until I watched her recent documentary, Martha, that I began to see her perfectionism and prowess for what they really are — genius.

That sentiment is fresh, leafing through my copy of her new/old book Entertaining, originally released in 1982. For a first work, it is astounding in its scope. You get the sense Martha knew she had one shot … and she wasn’t going to miss. Midnight Omelette Supper for Thirty, Russian Buffet for Twenty-four, A Country Pie Party for Fifty. She was doing it all from scratch, frequently leaning on the contents of her own prolific garden. I am utterly humbled at the impossibility of knowing this much about food and earth and entertaining. And to think she was just getting started. Looking back, I now realize she wasn’t on my radar until her second act. I didn’t understand the breadth of the foundation on which her stardom was built. To say I’m inspired by this cookbook is an understatement — I feel like I’m holding the keys to gastric wonderlands. At 50, it makes me feel like I have so much to learn … which is to say, it makes me feel young.

Fitting, as the deciding factor in buying a ticket was Martha’s trailblazing notion women have time to professionally mature. She started her publishing business at 50, and took Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia public by age 60. At 25, I never could’ve imagined Martha’s successes would become mental markers I’d hang onto for encouragement. With the child-raising years now largely in my rearview, I am more ready than ever to get ‘started’. Stripped of time and insecurity, there are problems to be solved and Mushroom-Shallot with Madeira Omelettes to master.

In short, it was lovely to ‘meet’ you, Martha.