This evening I watched Julie & Julia with the kids. When we decide to watch a movie, we take turns deciding what movie to watch. Tonight, it was Georgia’s turn. Jack spent a great deal of energy trying to convince her to watch something he might enjoy.
First attempt–The Hobbit. We watched the trailer. She looked mildly interested in some parts, but I think we all knew that was a no go. Soooo…Jack decided to play it cool. ‘Ya,’ he said,’That one is probably too scary for you.’
Second attempt–a brief mention of The Lord of The Rings. Georgia rolls her eyes and I say…if you think ‘The Hobbit’ is too scary…Jack relents.
Third attempt–Jurassic Park. We watch the trailer. Jack takes the ‘whatever I don’t really want to see this approach’….which almost works until he details how some kid in his class had told him that a T Rex eats his way through the ceiling of the bathroom before chomping a character sitting on the toilet in half. It is a no go.
I then see that iTunes has a section called ‘Food Movies’. Georgia has always wanted to be a chef, so I think we might find success in that category. Right away she eyes ‘The End of the Line’. A documentary about overfishing. She says she has always wanted to watch that one. A documentary…Georgia loves them…it’s true, but I say to her…
‘There will be real life killing of fish in this movie.’
I sense her hesitation.
‘How about Julie & Julia?’ I ask. Really just hoping to find a movie that we can all tolerate and that will, at this point, finish before 9:00pm.
‘Is it a real story?’
‘Yes’ I say(she LOVES real stories). I explain who Julia Childs is and how she went to cooking school in France(which is a sometime dream of Georgia’s, but one that I have selfishly put in her head so that I will have a daughter who I can visit in France).
So…we set out to watch this cute little movie about food and blogging and life. Georgia is sort of interested, but about half way through she ends up prancing around the playroom in her own make believe world as she normally does. Making things fly through the air. Muttering fantastical phrases about cooking lobsters and beef bourguignon. Jack, on the other hand, is mesmerized.
‘So,’ he says….’this is a movie about an optimist and a pessimist.’
He often talks the whole way through movies which is annoying to us all, but this time it was amazing. Listening to him describe in detail the aspects of the two main characters that made them either ‘optimistic’ or ‘pessimistic’. In the end, he decided that Julia Childs was an ‘optimistic realist’ and that THAT was a wonderful way to be. She never let anything get her too down. She didn’t care if people didn’t think she couldn’t do it…she just did it and had a good time doing it.
‘She was quite inspirational’ he said when the movie finished. ‘And, I love that ‘never apologize, never explain’ quote. I’m going to use that one.’
And, he marched off to bed.
Life is pretty great in these little moments. These little moments that seem so big.
~ Dana