thank your, nora ephron.

Funny how last week I wrote a post about my favorite movie of all time, and yesterday, the writer and director of that movie passed away. I don't quite remember when exactly I fell in love with that movie, but I do remember how I felt the first time I watched it, the first time I watched Sleepless in Seattle, and the first time I watched Julie & Julia, which are two of my other favorite Ephron creations. How did I feel? I felt like I related to each one of these women, because they were about as real as characters could get. I related to Julie at the time the movie came out, because I was stuck in a dead end job, too, and was searching for something else that would make me feel like I mattered. I related to Julia, who was looking to find herself in a place full of new, different people. I was in the middle of my time at BYU, and sometimes it's easy to feel a little lost there. 

Nora Ephron's characters are women who any normal, everyday woman can be, if she isn't the exact same woman already. They're not Angelina Jolie or some impeccably created female who can do anything and everything. These are women who are funny, who are powerful, but overall, who are soft. That is one of my favorite words to describe the Ephron characters. They are unapologetically feminine. In a world where women sometimes forget who they are in order to get the job or to get the guy, these women are not trying to be trendsetters or supermoms or ladder climbers. They are who they are, and they aren't ashamed of it. These women are me, are my mother, my sister, my best friend. Kathleen Kelly understood that a small, simple life full of purpose and love can be greater than a larger-than-life life that is empty. 

So thank your, dear Nora, for showing us that sometimes, the bookstore has to close, and sometimes the boeuf bourguignon burns. You knew the power of imperfection, and you knew that sometimes, the happy ending doesn't come, at least not for a little while {it always does}. But in the meantime, humor and grace are the two most important things that any female can possess as she makes her mark in the world, even if it's just a small one. 

"Above all, be the heroine in your life, not the victim." Nora Ephron