Have We Met?
Have we met? I think we’ve met. But I can’t be sure. We were introduced, but I didn’t catch your name because it’s so noisy at this party. I’m going to assume we know each other, and I’m not going to say, “Nice to meet you.” If I say, “Nice to meet you,” I know what will happen. You’ll say, “We’ve met.” You’ll say “We’ve met” in a sort of aggressive, irritable tone. And you won’t even tell me your name so I can recover in some way. So I’m not going to say, “Nice to meet you.” I’m going to say, “Nice to see you.” I’ll have a big smile on my face. I won’t look desperate. But what I’ll be thinking is, please throw me your name. Please, please, please. Give me a hint. My husband is likely to walk up, and I’ll have to introduce you, and I won’t be able to, and you’ll know that I have no idea who you are even though we probably spent an entire weekend together on a boat in 1984. And even though I have a secret signal with my husband that involves my pinching him very hard on the upper arm, a signal that means, “Throw your name at this person because I have no idea whom I’m talking to,” my husband always forgets the secret signal and can’t be counted on to respond to my pinching, even when it produces a bruise. I would like to chew my husband out about his forgetfulness on this point, but I’m not exactly in a position to do so since I myself have forgotten (if I ever knew it) the name of the person I’m talking to.
Nora Ephron (May 19, 1941 – June 26, 2012) was an American journalist, essayist,playwright, screenwriter, novelist, producer, director, and blogger.
Ephron is best known for her romantic comedies and was nominated three times for theAcademy Award for Best Writing (Original Screenplay): for Silkwood, When Harry Met Sally... and Sleepless in Seattle. She won a BAFTA Award for Best Original Screenplayfor When Harry Met Sally.... She sometimes wrote with her sister Delia Ephron.[1] Her last film was Julie & Julia.[1] She also co-authored the Drama Desk Award-winning theatrical production Love, Loss, and What I Wore.[1][2]