I didn’t know her, but it feels like I’ve lost a treasured friend of a lifetime.
We all do—there’s an eruption of emotion all over the internet —with a breadth and depth that might have surprised Nora Ephron herself.
I didn’t plan to add to that by writing about her; but I can’t stop thinking about her.
I only wish I had something half as witty as anything she said, to say about her.
I won’t even try.
I couldn’t begin to express a shred of the eloquence being used to describe her; I can just add my sadness and sentiment to the outpouring of grief at losing her so soon.
Maybe it’s the surprise and the suddenness. Maybe it’s that she didn’t choose to share her illness as she shared so much of herself. Maybe it’s that she died due complications from Myelodysplasia, which Robin Roberts has, the same illness that recently took my ex-husband.
Maybe it’s that she was for me, like many women, a role model I’ve admired for decades. Thinking about that, and reading all the words written and said about her tonight –it struck me how many words she wrote; what an incredibly productive and full life she had.
Books, movies, magazines, theater, newspapers, the Huffington Post (she was also an investor); she was even working in the past few weeks from the hospital. All while being a wonderful friend and mentor to many.
Considering the current debate over whether it’s possible for any woman to have it all, Nora Ephron seems to have managed it.
What I’d like to know is— while doing everything else, how did she find time to cook?
Though I’ve read (and can quote) and appreciate her funny lines, what sticks with me right now is something that she wrote in her last book I Remember Nothing.
You do get to a certain point in life where you have to realistically, I think, understand that the days are getting shorter, and you can’t put things off thinking you’ll get to them someday. If you really want to do them, you better do them. “
As always, she said it straight and said it best.
I hope she did that herself; I plan to take her words to heart—and always hold her in my heart, too.
marla wentner says
We all will miss her so much. Her writing was so incredibly meaty and apt. In case you and your readers haven’t seen this Charlie Rose interview with Nora Ephron, it is definitely worth a half hour of time.
Thank you for this post in her honor, Darryle.
Darryle Pollack says
I did watch the Charlie Rose interview—in the middle of the night last night while I was also watching all the clips of her movies and reading every word written by her and about her.
Thanks so much, Marla. I thought the interview was wonderful too; will post the link here for anyone who hasn’t seen it:
http://www.charlierose.com/view/interview/11327
marla wentner says
Thanks, Darryle. I totally forgot to post the link — what does that say about my mind? Or maybe (hopefully) I was just dismayed by not having Nora Ephron in our midst anymore! Very sad. But anyway, I am glad you posted it so that people can have a chance to see it.