How do you like your egggs?

There’s a scene in a 1990s rom-com called Runaway Bride, it’s really short, maybe 10 seconds long, but it relentlessly keeps smiling its way back into my mind.

The film, a re-pairing of Julia Roberts and Richard Gere, where she plays a woman, Maggie who has a reputation of getting cold feet at her wedding, dramatically leaving her grooms at the altar,

hence the nickname “Runaway Bride”. The film opens with her preparing for wedding number four. Into
the scene arrives a disgraced newspaper columnist, Ike (Richard Gere) determined to uncover the reason for her running.

Ike assumes that somewhere along the line, between fiancés, Maggie has become lost. She no longer truly knows herself. So much so, she doesn’t even know how she likes her eggs cooked for herself, choosing instead to eat eggs in the style her fiancé prefers.

This becomes the core theme of the movie. Maggie bends her personality to become one with her fiancé, whichever one it is – mechanic, exterminator, priest, high school football coach. She looses herself to become what he wants, afraid the who she is, will not be enough for him.

This resonates richly with the core of rhubarb etc. I think many of us, somewhere in the swirl of midlife, motherhood, marriage, work, and care — forget what shape we actually are. We bend to fit, to help, to soothe, to succeed. Shapeshifting endlessly. Sometimes we don’t even notice how much we’ve reshaped ourselves until we don’t quite recognize the outline anymore.

But here’s the wonder of it – you can stand still long enough to notice your own edges, again — your preferences, your pace, your passions. And you can choose the shape you want to be, not the one that fits neatly into someone else’s idea of you.

It doesn’t require a grand gesture. No need to flee a wedding or book a yoga retreat (unless you want to). It can start with something as simple as asking:
What do I like?
What do I want more of?
What have I missed about myself?

Because yes — it’s good to have a goal to journey toward. But it’s the journey that matters in the end.

Maggie’s final decision? Benedict. ;D

So, if today feels a little out of shape… take a breath.
Try something just for you.
Choose the shape that feels most like you.
And let that be more than enough.

Until next time,