Live a great story.
In the days following the news of Julie’s passing, I kept noticing an advertisement showing up in my social media feeds for this “lifestyle inspiration” company called “Live a Great Story”. The more I kept seeing it, the more it occurred to me – Julie lived a Great Story! And because of Julie, my life has been a better story. I got to know Julie when we both lived in Dallas. And I’m sure like all of you, when you met Julie, something just clicked. For us, we realized we both graduated from Iowa State University and relished in the idea that two old Cyclones would cross paths 700 or so miles down I-35.
A few years later, she moved to San Francisco. And as luck would have it, I got an opportunity to take a job in Napa shortly after that. That’s where the real fun began! I’m sure most of you know about – or have at least seen photos of the SantaCon festivals in San Francisco where we were all decked out in Santa costumes pub crawling through the City. And Julie’s Fleet Week rooftop parties at her condo were the stuff of legend!
Shortly after my husband Jeff and I returned from one of our trips to Puerto Vallarta – Julie declared, “I’m buying a place there… I absolutely LOVE IT! Now we’ll have to get together down there!” One of our favorite vacations there was Thanksgiving a couple of years ago – which is actually where we got to know Julie’s parents, Bruce and Shirley.
That’s the amazing thing about Julie… how she brought people together and how she made you feel. Her friends felt like family. Her family – even the ones we hadn’t met – felt like friends. She had an amazing ability to share her whole life with all of us around her.
Julie’s last few weeks in California – while we were all cooped up during Covid – she reached out to me and was like, “I know you guys are being safe… but would you mind if I came up to Napa for a visit? I gotta get out of here!” Luckily, we got to do it all again when she stayed with us over the 4th of July weekend. She booked us these AMAZING wineries to visit and we had the absolute best time – and bought (and drank) way too much expensive wine. Because, of course we did… Julie was living a great story and we all got to be along for the ride.
I will miss every day her joy and her enthusiasm for life, friends, and family. I can think of no better way to celebrate the life of Julie than to try to live my own great story.