Meghan O'Keefe

I’m taking the news of Nora Ephron’s passing unusually hard.

All I can think about is how I wish I could thank her. She wrote what I believe to be the Holy Trinity of late 20th Century Romantic Comedies (When Harry Met Sally, Sleepless in Seattle and You’ve Got Mail). 

In addition to starring Meg Ryan and fetishizing New York City, all three films present a dream of love that I’ve always considered to be the sweetest of dreams. 

In Nora Ephron’s universe, marriage was never a goal. Sex was never used to bring a career woman down. Romance was not a way for a woman to transform herself from something schlubby into something valuable. Her heroines were never marked for their looks and her heroes were never marked for their wealth. In Nora Ephron’s films, love is just the best kind of friendship. It’s about recognizing the value of another person’s thoughts, ideas, jokes and dreams and having them recognize yours in turn.

True love is two people who appreciate one another. 

I can’t think of another writer who scribes it as such, and who writes about it with such wit, warmth and hope. She was always idealistic, but never completely unrealistic, which made the dreams she spun in her films all the more wonderful.

I’m so so so sad that we’ve lost such a powerful and brilliant woman, but thankful that she gave so many young men and women so many dreams.