Full-on humanness.

I didn't read "Heartburn." (Though now I want to.)

I wasn't even a massive fan of all of her movies.

But Nora Ephron got me. Actually, she got all of us gals, but I like to think me in particular.

I remember the first time I watched "When Harry Met Sally." It wasn't Meg Ryan's oft-quoted (wholly remembered) orgasm scene that got me. It wasn't even their arrival in New York (though as a girl I dreamed of that day for me). It was Harry's line on New Year's Eve - "when you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible" - that did it for me. Nora knew. She just knew.

Those words weren't laced with complicated thought or clever innuendo or adjectives of how we should feel. Those words were simple and spot on.

In reading some of the articles and farewells following her death this week, I stumbled across one written by Virginia Heffernan at Yahoo News. This particular sentence struck me. I copied it and sent it to my sissy and my Mini Me.

Ephron rejected the "counterintuitive" -- a crude commodity among female essayists, to write the opposite of what's felt and true -- and embraced, instead, the intuitive: good food, romantic love and full-on humanness in the form of vanity and laughter and grief and dorkiness. Ephron rejected the imperative to care about things she didn't care about, or get alarmist and guilty about her pleasures.

Heffernan wrote she wished she'd had the chance to become Nora's friend. From that paragraph, sounds like she already was.

We are always running for the thrill of it.

I've been dreading this countdown.

Saturday (as in four days) I'll make the second - no, third - most significant move of my life (to date). I'm saying so long to my gorgeous roommate, one of my dearest friends and probably my closest confidant, Jackson Hodges. And. It. Might. Kill. Me. (He will for sure be racked with grief, I'll tell you that much for free.)

We've been friends for ages, but live-in besties for the last two years and life may have never been better. From the scary-exciting move to 168 Henry and starting work, making friends - making our way - to "Jack Special," Clandestino stop-ins, Octomom light fixtures and discovering our 'hood, we made the Jewel Box (JB, if you know) home. While it will always be my (and Jackson's) first home in NYC, it won't be our last. And Saturday, I'll make my way on to the next with a heavy heart, a pretty packed moving truck, a mind full of memories and anticipation for what's to come.

So, here's to the last 24 months with jmh. (Who never once wavered, left my side or failed to make me at least crack a smile.) My MAJORLY edited Top 5.

5. BBMK. (Covers a multitude of, well, sins.)

4. Confusing people on the streets with our coupledom.

3. Cast-iron skillet cover-up. (A recent but poignant add.)

2. Single-handedly gentrifying the street even WITHOUT a sapling.

1. Sunday cuddlefests with Stop One runs, Sunday gravy and robes.

And here's to unconditional love. (That's also JMH.)

Moving day, October 4, 2009

Let Love rule.

I used to think I was so cool sketching the title of Lenny Kravitz's debut album all over my composition (yeah, I said it) book. I'm certain I didn't own the album at that time, but saw it on some older, cooler kid's notebook (ahem, 8th grade crush). Nonetheless, I was totally taken with those three words.

Then Lenny's lines began to take a different, more powerful shape for me. "Let love rule" - at once a suggestion and a command. Or maybe a gentle reminder. Let, love, rule.

In honor of Valentine's (the very word is beautiful to me), I'm raising a glass for Love. Here's to the most sought-after, abused, welcomed, shunned, perfect, imperfect, forgiving thing out there. Here's to Love sticking around. Here's to Love spreading. Here's to Love ruling.

Thanks Lenny.

The Commuter train.

Since I work out of my very large (even by outside-NY standards) apartment, I don't often - as in never - take the train to work. In the spirit of trying something new, I took the uptown 6 with my roommate (and talented architect) jmh this morning. We got off at 68th + Lex, got coffee from a cart and he walked into his office. I walked down Madison, then crossed over to Fifth, picked up "Mrs. Dalloway" (I know, it's a shame I've just now cracked it open, but her "life epiphanies" are quite juicy and relevant at this time to me) at The Strand kiosk and sat in Central Park (on a bench) reading.

It's certainly Fall in New York, and every tree that wasn't yet bare had brilliantly colored leaves. It was cool, brisk even and there are holiday lights and decorations being thoughtfully hung. Next week brings Thanksgiving - my first in the city. I look forward to sharing a table with new friends, and with old. I look forward to giving thanks for many, many things. The morning commute being one of them.