Letters to Juliet

Maddie and I went to see the movie, Letters to Juliet, and it was just fabulous. I am, of course, a sucker for a good love story, and a few cute hotties on the screen always helps. But I also enjoyed the pure beauty of Vanessa Redgrave and Amanda Siegfriend -- as well as the beauty of the Italian countryside.

Normally I relate to the heroine of the younger set -- and in this case, it would have been easy as she was a fact checker for the New Yorker and an aspiring writer. But in this movie I was seriously drawn to Claire, as played by Vanessa Redgrave. And while I am squarely in the middle of them, age-wise, and could go either way, this was, without a doubt, an easy choice. Sophie, played by Siegfried, is engaged to a man besotted with his own career and up until she meets Mr. Right, she is fine with that. She wants to be more than a fact checker, she wants to come fully into herself.

Claire has already arrived, and the peace that comes with that journey I found more appealing than I could ever imagine! A beauty that comes from within that reaches well beyond the wrinkles of time, emanates from her. I also saw that same kind of amazing grace and beauty last night while watching Carole King sing with James Taylor. There is something beyond words that surrounds a woman when she is comfortable in her own skin, that makes you want to be them.

I found it interesting, as I digested the movie afterwards, how for me, the goal of becoming a wise older woman who doesn't fight the ravages of time, but accepts them as her due for living as well as she could, is a righteous one! A strange word, I suppose, but it feels just that. I have always strived hard to grow, to be all that I can be, if you will, to touch people, to make a difference in the lives of people I live my life with.

Life is not a peaceful journey, but at the end of the day, if you can find peace, if you are surrounded by love and you can find the joy in a sunset that lights up the sky in the most magnificent light -- then as this day passes to the next, there is nothing to fear, but only to embrace. For the first time I see beauty at the thought of growing old. It doesn't mean the end, it doesn't mean anything other than what you make of it.

This is the second time of late that this thought -- this feeling that I will come into myself with a ripe fullness soon, but also later -- has come upon me. And I look forward to all of it as the adventure that it is supposed to be.