On Nora.

This is Nora Ephron.

Sadly, she died on June 26, two days ago, from complications related to leukemia. Sad, sad, sad.

It’s interesting that I’ve never discussed my longtime fandom and admiration of Ms. Ephron on Kitten Heel Marvel. It’s kind of mind-boggling, really, that she has never come up, being that she either wrote and/or directed some of my favorite films of all time; she introduced me and my Sis, and the rest of the world, for that matter, to the wonder of Meg Ryan; or the fact that my impetus for seeing the film Hanging Up (which was, um, not that great, but whatever) was that she co-wrote it with her sister, Delia, and that the movie was loosely based on their lives. Nevertheless, here it all is: Nora Ephron was tremendous.

We love When Harry Met Sally…, Sleepless in Seattle, and You’ve Got Mail because of Nora. Yes, we fell so hard in love with Meg and Billy and Tom. But really and truly? We were falling in love with Nora. Her brilliant words, her ideas, her plots, her raging sense of humor and wit, her everything. We didn’t know it yet, of course. We were figuring out how to make it to the Empire State Building and stand in the spot that Meg and Tom stood in, not thinking about the auteur behind it all. But she was there the entire time: creating a world filled with smart, funny, romantic people. That’s why we kept going back. As we got older and read reviews with words like “written and directed by Nora Ephron”, we got excited. It would be good! Why not plop down some cash and head to the movie theater? It had Nora’s touch, after all.

I didn’t see her last film, Julie and Julia, but I know that it resulted in the 999,999th Oscar nomination for Meryl Streep and likely increased the awesome quotient of Amy Adams. (And before you ask, I have no idea why I didn’t catch that movie. It even had The Tucci! Maybe I was asleep for a week or something. Anyway, I will be renting it this weekend.) Need I say more? The Nora Ephron Touch.

I have no doubt Nora Ephron had more to say, more to show us, and more to do. And it would have been brilliant.