Julie Andrews

If you haven't noticed, it has been 50 years this year since the release of the film The Sound of Music.
First of all, this movie is my absolute favorite movie of all time. I am completely in love with everything about this film. It makes me so very happy, so very, very happy, every time I see even a thirty-second clip or a single note of any one of the songs. I adore it.
Of course, it is one of take those movies that I can't take credit for watching. If not for my mother, I wouldn't have seen it. I saw it when I was about nine or so, and naturally didn't understand the history of it at all, but was enamored by the music and, of course, Julie Andrews' inexplicably enchanting charm.
So, in the wake of the 20/20 special The Untold Story of The Sound of Music that aired last week on ABC, I decided I had to do a blog post about one of my idols.
I don't know what I can possibly say about Julie Andrews that hasn't been said before now? Realistically, I am not the only person regarding her as a role model for life. There are millions of people who love Julie Andrews. For me, she is such an inspiration, a model of class and tact and beauty.
Julie Andrews was born in 1935 in England (so of course her accent is amazing) and hasn't stopped since then. She was an incredible singer, who starred in many musicals including The Sound of Music and Mary Poppins. I first saw her in The Princess Diaries (with baby Anne Hathaway before she was stunning and wonderful and everything amazing.)
I have a thing for girly, sparkly, princess-y things, so Julie's role in The Princess Diaries was almost more appealing to me than Mia's character of clumsy-tomboy-turned-glam-princess. I love class. I love it when a person is classy and tactful, well-spoken and graceful.
Julie Andrews is all of these. She is on my list of people to meet in my life, although somehow I doubt it will happen, but you never know.
As for The Sound of Music, it is by far my all-time favorite move. I fell in love with it from the very beginning, and have watched it a million times. I own the sing-along version. I love the innocence of the story line. Today's movies aren't nearly that clean. I am daily exposed to inappropriate, crude humor that I basically despise. I hate how worldly everyone is. I hate how everything is filled with the tropes of today's corrupt world. I'm not preaching here, just expressing how much I hate a lot of the current "humor". There isn't nearly as much innocence as I would like.
I'm not saying I don't like my cell phone, because I do. Believe me, I do. But sometimes, like last weekend when Aidan came over to help with yard work and such, and we ran around the building in circles and chased each other in pursuit of a tiny piece of my old bed frame...it's times like these, that make me wish there wasn't so much technology in the world. I long for the simplicity of times like those depicted in The Sound of Music. If I could have six siblings close in age and a singing nun for a governess, I so would. I would do it in a heartbeat. I would also fall in love with a German telegram delivery boy who turned out to be a Nazi and sing while dancing in a glass gazebo during a thunderstorm, and then get soaked and climb into said governess' bedroom. I would do it.
The thing is, Julie Andrews shines as Maria. She is captivating, and I could not help but fall in love with her and the movie. Recently, I have been watching interviews with Julie Andrews and find that she is always put together, always comes across as genuine and kind, always proper, but never haughty. She's a wonderful human being.
An idol should be someone you can look up to, admire, and strive to be like. I feel completely comfortable in calling Julie Andrews my idol. She is someone I'm more than happy to tell people that I want to be like.
If I have half as much class and talent as Julie Andrews at any point in my life, I will consider myself very lucky.