I fell
in love with Nora Ephron when I read
Heartburn many, many years ago. She spoke in a voice I recognized.
I’m
trying to decipher my reaction to her death. I feel as if I have lost a friend.
It’s odd because we weren’t actually friends. But I know we could have been.
Maybe that’s it. As I read all the articles that have been written since her
death, I realize I’m not alone. Both real friends and could-have-been friends grieve
her.
I loved
her movies, just, I suspect, like the rest of the world. Sleepless in Seattle,
This is My Life, When Harry Met Sally, Heartburn, You’ve Got Mail, Silkwood,
Julie & Julia. Her books, Heartburn,
I Feel Sorry About My Neck. Her last, sitting on my bookshelf for the last
few months, started last night: I
Remember Nothing. I have some yet to read. I’m working on that. I have also
never seen her plays or read them. Working on that one, too.
Three
quotes from her vast reservoir of witty, urbane and honest comments stand out
for me.
When
talking about writing for women she said: “I try to write parts for women that are as
complicated and interesting as women actually are.” How beautiful and simple
that statement is.
Her
most often quoted and maybe most well-known, when speaking to a Wellesley graduating
class: “Above all, be the heroine of
your life, not the victim.” A comment for everyone, not just women. So easily
aspired to, so hard to do.
And
last, from her novel, Heartburn: “I
look out the window and I see the lights and the skyline and the people on the
street rushing around looking for action, love, and the world’s greatest
chocolate chip cookie, and my heart does a little dance.” I’m not sure why I
love that one so much. I think it’s because it captures so vividly what it’s
like to be in New York.
I have
come to believe that when a person’s work on this earth is done, they leave.
Provided of course they don’t take matters into their own hands. So I guess her
work here is done. I will miss knowing she is in the world. She made my heart
do a little dance.
