Saturday, July 7, 2012

Heart Dance


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.