Nora Ephron: When Sharing Met Hallelujah!

There is something innately special about the written word.  It touches folks.  It connects people.  It angers them.  Makes them laugh.  Makes them think.  The written word uncovers a million "a ha!" moments daily as someone, somewhere connects on a deeper level to a series of words strung together.

Perhaps what is best about the written word is that it lives forever.  As long as it is curated in some form - a newspaper, a diary, a love note, song lyrics, a blog, a movie script - it will never die.  Its power to continue touching lives is potentially infinite.

It is in that thought that I find comfort in the passing of one of my heroes.

Nora Ephron has died.  But her words will live forever.

I have often written about one of my all time favorite films, When Harry Met Sally.  Yes, it was brought to life by the skilled line delivery and comedic timing of Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan, but before they even touched the script, the script had a life force all its own.

For example, in one forever noteworthy line about faking orgasms she made every man who has, or will, see it, squirm in the face of simple truth: Its just that all men are sure it never happened to them and all women at one time or other have done it so you do the math.

In that moment of sharing, millions of women silently fistpumped and fake moaned Hallelujah!

Nora's words conveyed the struggle, the silliness, the angst, the melodrama of two people so seemingly wrong for one another, yet in the end, simply the missing piece of the other's puzzle.

The same in You've Got Mail.  She captured the longing to be loved - TRULY loved, desired, cherished.  The human need to connect with someone else on the deepest levels - far below physical attraction, many layers beyond "Oh, I like hot dogs, too."  She grabbed that yearning to be seen even when he/she can't see you.

Sleepless In Seattle is another one that will eternally pluck the strings of my heart.  Yes, it takes a certain amount of leaving-reality-behind, but the bigger picture in the love story is worth of suspending disbelief. 

Love found: Well, it was a million tiny little things that, when you added them all up, they meant we were supposed to be together... and I knew it. I knew it the very first time I touched her. It was like coming home... only to no home I'd ever known... I was just taking her hand to help her out of a car and I knew. It was like... magic.

Love lost: Well, I'm gonna get out of bed every morning... breathe in and out all day long. Then, after a while I won't have to remind myself to get out of bed every morning and breathe in and out... and, then after a while, I won't have to think about how I had it great and perfect for a while.

Love found again: The small moment at the top of the Empire State building when he reaches out to take Meg Ryan's hand and you feel that magic happen again.

Nora Ephron "got" it.  She knew and she translated that knowing onto the page - whether in book form, blog form, or up on to the big screen.  She knew we are all full of shit, and she knew we were all also full of longing, yearning.  Full of the hope that someday, someone would see past the shit to the precious person hiding behind it.

That is perfectly trussed up, cooked, and plated to perfection in Julie and Julia, as Julie struggles to find the meaning in her life, who she is, what she is meant to do.  Already loved by a wonderful man, but certainly not loved by her self.  And Nora understood that if you don't know and love who you are, you feel like an imposter until you do.

Nora was prolific.  As a founding force behind HuffPo, her contributions were always thoughtful, revealing, humorous, and direct.  She never shied away from truth and bullshit, or the discomfort brought on by forcing the two to meet.  I loved that about her.

But one of her observations that will forever stay with me was her revelation on her own blogging:  "Blogs were different from whatever had gone before.  They weren't meant to be polished, like essays.  They were informal; they were temporal.  The comments they engendered weren't comments at all, althought they were logged and enumerated as comments; they were instead a conversation, and one of the reasons for blogging was to start the conversation and to create the community that comes together briefly to talk about the things they might not be talking about if you hadn't written your blog."

Amen, Nora.  Amen.

Nora Ephron has died.  But her words will live forever. 

I think I'll watch Harry meet Sally again today...

Comments

[Theresa from Virginia]

Love Nora Ephron's work. What an amazingly talented lady! RIP Nora! Gotta watch "You've Got Mail" now!

[Nikki in NYC]

She wrote great stuff. You have to read "I Feel Bad About My Neck." You will die laughing. Nora could observe like nobody else. A loss for anyone who likes smart writing.

[LB from Ohio]

Have to watch "You've Got Mail whenever I see it when I am channel surfing. Love it and all her other movies. She had class..

[Liz in CT]

Wonderful tribute to a woman who I never met, but felt like she was a friend because she simply and hilariously,"got it".

[Sue, Sacramento]

Linda, it's too bad that the two of you never met & had the chance to collaborate on anything....now that would have been worth the price of admission!!!!

[RBlues]

"Heartburn" is one of my favorite movies/books as well. RIP.

[audreyf]

Amen.

[Shawn]

The part that struck me was this portion of her quote on blogs: "one of the reasons for blogging was to start the conversation and to create the community that comes together briefly to talk about the things they might not be talking about if you hadn't written your blog." THIS IS DGMS!!! We came to the blog...and became a community...based off the numerous conversations begun thanks to Linda's blog entries. We became family.

Rest In Peace Nora...you definitly GOT it when it came to life's truths. May have to go watch You've Got Mail again (one of my faves)

[Marsha]

"I'll have what she's having!" has to be one of the greatest / most memorable movie lines ever! Gosh I loved her characters and the stories she used to introduce them to us.

Nicely written Linda!

[Another Lori in TX]

Some of my most favorite movies - you know, the ones you stop and watch on cable when you pass them (even though you have them on DVD) - were written by Nora Ephron. I would go see a movie that she wrote simply because SHE wrote it. She will be greatly missed!

[Magda]

and i will read Heartburn again this weekend.

[Lori in Texas]

Nora Ephron has been one of my top 5 heroes since the 1980's. Towards the end of a terrible marriage, I saw her masterpiece, "Heartburn," and it gave me courage and made me laugh. If you've never seen it, I urge you to run - not walk - to your nearest DVD store and buy it. It is, and will remain, my favorite Nora Ephron film of all time, simply because of the deep, resonating chord it struck in my heart at the time it was released.

No one could express male/female relationships better than Nora. The woman KNEW. I'm still so stunned that she's gone... in my mind, she was ageless and timeless. Thank heavens she has left us a legacy of laughter. I will never forget her.

[Chicky]

Nora Ephron was the author of several of my favorite movies....When Harry Met Sally, You've Got Mail, Silkwood, Heartburn, Mixed Nuts, Michael, Bewitched, Hanging Up, Julia & Julia, My Blue Heaven and, of course, Sleepless in Seattle. It always felt like she was saying what I was thinking, but in a funnier, more sensitive way. Her characters were full and honest and quirky and everything I wanted to be. You are so right Linda, she "got it". I will miss her and her movies. RIP Nora, and keep em laughing til I get there!

[Dorothy R]

DGMS has most certainly breathed life into her observation.