One of my favorite movies is You’ve Got Mail. I know it is a silly movie but I just enjoy it! It has so many memorable lines such as:

I *love* Patricia. Patricia makes COFFEE nervous.

Sometimes I wonder about my life. I lead a small life. Well, not small, but valuable. And sometimes I wonder, do I do it because I like it, or because I haven’t been brave?

So much of what I see reminds me of something I read in a book, when shouldn’t it be the other way around?

People always say that change is a good thing, but what it really means is that something that you didn’t want to happen, has happened.

I love daisies. They’re so friendly. Don’t you think daisies are the friendliest flower?

Have you ever become the worst version of yourself. That a pandora’s box of all the hateful things, your spite, your arrogance, your condecension has sprung open? Someone upsets you and instead of smiling and walking away… you zing them.

A HOTDOG is singing. You need quiet while a hotdog is singing?

Perfect. Keep those West-Side liberal nuts, psudo-intellectuals…
Readers, Dad. They’re called readers.
Don’t do that, son. Don’t romanticize them.

It happened in Spain. People do really stupid things in foreign countries.
Absolutely. They buy leather jackets for much more than they’re worth. But they don’t fall in love with fascist dictators!

When you read a book as a child, it becomes a part of your identity in a way that no other reading in your whole life does.

You get the idea. I have been thinking a lot about the movie because it is all about change- even one of the quotes I have listed refers to change. Kathleen Kelly has her whole world tipped over and she must change her career, lifestyle, companionship etc. I am aware that in movie world there has to be a happy ending but I think her journey is a realistic one. She ends up growing from her sacrifice and realizing a whole new part of herself- a potential she would have never understood by staying in the store. She even has a higher capacity to love by the end of her change.

Like Kathleen Kelly I am being forced out of my comfort zone. I currently do not know where I will be permanently living, what I will be doing for a job, or who I will be living with. It’s just a vast unknown. I am starting to get an inkling that maybe running my own company isn’t such a crazy idea. I have also been keeping busy working on my dad’s rental properties and planning some events. Plus, I have that little thing called boxing up and moving all of my stuff…

Getting back to the movie, I wouldn’t be surprised if my journey is somewhat similar to Kathleen’s. In the movie she says “who would ever thought that I would write? I mean, if I hadn’t had all this time…” I feel the same way. Who would have ever thought I’d be where I am right now, an MBA grad experiencing these changes. Certainly not me. It’s actually kind of exciting! I always wanted to be someone that was brave and bold. Like the kind of girl I read about in my books- Joe March, Anne Shirley, and even Nancy Drew. How did such a girl wind up as an accounting clerk? I know that I still have the desire to do great things and this time of change may be just what I need to push me into becoming what I wanted to be as a child.

I have already experienced some of that change. Quiting my job taught me to trust my inner voice in a whole new way and that self awareness is part of the reason I have been so happy these last few months. I have a confidence that is no longer hindered by the opinions and feelings of others like it used to be. Sure I have my moments of discouragement and frustration (just as Kathleen does in the movie) but there is still an underlying confidence in my decision and my life that has not and will not change. I hope that as I continue to make changes I will grow even stronger. In the meantime thank heavens for wonderful friends, family and even movies or books that make me smile at life.

You’ve Got Mail once again describes the last 6 months for me and the time to come-

Last 6 months

I just want to say that all this nothing has meant more to me than so many somethings.

At least the next 6 months

You are a lone reed, standing tall, waving boldly in the corrupt sands of commerce.

Who knows maybe I will even find my Tom Hanks at the end of the journey!