i'll have what she's having

did i ever tell you i had a huge girl crush on nora ephron?  i feel like i did but maybe i didn't.  if you have not read her recent collections of short stories, "i feel bad about my neck" and "i remember nothing" (which i ironically could not remember the title of last night discussing her death at dinner among friends), you're missing out.  she was obviously a good bit older than me, but had this way of writing that made you feel like she's your equal, a friend that you're having coffee with.  the cool aunt you never had, and that will give you all the dirt on everything yet to come.

she wrote about things all people have in common - aging, marrying, divorcing, parenting, careers and the way that life is just so damn interesting.  she was an intern during the kennedy white house years (she claims she was the only intern kennedy never hit on), was married three times (one of the times to a man intertwined with the watergate scandal...who later left her while she was pregnant with their second child), grew up as a child of two screenwriters (who later both became alcoholics and reportedly, per her book, her dad accidentally killed her mom via an overdose) in beverly hills and rubbed elbows with some of the greatest icons of yesteryear through all of her years in LA and new york.  she said her mother told her - everything is copy.  she certainly lived a life with lots of copy opportunities.

i was going to type out a succinct favorite passage or two from her books, but i tried and...you just won't get it.  you have to read the whole story, and they're so good i just can't cheat you of that.  but i do love her lists.  she made great lists.  here are two, from "i remember nothing."

WHAT I WILL MISS:
my kids
nick (her husband)
spring
fall
waffles
the concept of waffles
bacon
a walk in the park
the idea of a walk in the park
the park
shakespeare in the park
the bed
reading in bed
fireworks
laughs
the view out the window
twinkle lights
butter
dinner at home just the two of us
dinner with friends
dinner with friends in cities where none of us live
paris
pride and prejudice
the christmas tree
thanksgiving dinner
one for the table
the dogwood
taking a bath
coming over the bridge to manhattan
pie

WHAT I WON'T MISS:
dry skin
bad dinners like the one we went to last night
email
technology in general
my closet
washing my hair
bras
funerals
illness everywhere
polls
fox
the collapse of the dollar
joe lieberman
clarence thomas
bar mitzvahs
mammograms
dead flowers
the sound of the vacuum cleaner
bills
email.  i know i already said it, but i want to emphasize it.
small print
panels on women in film
taking off makeup every night

nora, i could not agree more.  taking off makeup at night, every single night, is such a chore.  bras too.

xoxo