JULIE & JULIA is one of the best movies I have ever seen about depicting the sometimes long and winding path to  your life’s calling. 

If you feel utterly lost about your PLAN in life or even if you have just an itch to feel engaged in something that brings you joy—this movie is a great place to spend an hour or so.  It could change your life—or at the very least, help you see that what you might most need to find—or to know about yourself –is that it’s right there, in front of you.  The story, as told on screen,  involves two women, living in different eras, each of whom were in a hand-wringing search for some real meaning and passion in their lives—-one most of us face when we commit to having the life that is uniquely ours.

One of the lead characters in the story was Julia Child.  She was a character.  She did not try to be anything else.  The way she became a household icon—-or as I call it—Julia Child with a CAPITAL “J” and a CAPITAL “C” is one part of the story line in the movie.  When she was still Julia Child with a regular “J” and a regular “C”—she was a bored housewife—–feeling like an appendage of her husband who lived a high-wire life as an American embassy official in Paris.  The only thing she could think of, that she really loved to do, was……”EAT!”.   At least she was honest enough to admit it.  

Could it be,  that  the spark which ignites the flame for a  life on purpose….. begins—with utter  honesty?   Maybe our grand plan actually starts with something as simple as the joy of eating or sleeping or playing cards or sewing, or counting things, or cleaning the fish tank, or walking long distances.

How often do we fry our minds with the ever-present thought that the “meter is ticking”? We only have so much time to find the finish line for the race we are supposed to be running.  Just a little anxiety producing, maybe?   Here is one important thing to know about Julia Child, in case you don’t get to the movie.  She did not find her trajectory until she was nearly 50.  Her first on-camera experience with her own television show was at 52.  We got to love and learn from her for the next 30+ years.  She was still a correspondent on Good Morning America until nearly 90!

Julie, the counterpoint story in the movie, was an aspiring writer, down on herself because she had not “made it”.  Her day job, was immersed in dealing with the sadnesses of many people after the disaster of 911.  She was attached to her headset,  in the confines of a cubicle in a huge room full of cubicles.  She was going a little nuts with her life—-living above a pizzeria in Queeens, commuting every day in monotonous drudgery.  One thing she knew for sure was that she loved watching Julia Child on TV, making French cooking look easy.   So easy, that it was something she thought she could actually do—especially to relieve the frustration she was feeling about her life.  The spark.  Something she  might love.  Someone she admired.  Why not give it a try?

Maybe a key to a new sense of purpose is in the thing you chose to do—–that takes you away from your frustrations.  Just a thought.

Again, I don’t want to ruin the movie for you by sharing too many details—-it is really refreshingly entertaining on all counts.  And if you are looking for a bottom line. that might apply in your own life, here it is—–the book….. that turned into this movie….. would not have been written or made without Julie……or Julia. The way each woman came into her own is the amazing and true intersection of loves and lives that are possible for all of us.  That message, alone, is worth the price of admission.