Estelle Reiner, Carl's wife of 64 years, died a week before the election, had a good life and had filed an absentee ballot. There was nothing cartoon-like about her. Though her life was filled with laughter, she was always real.
When I last saw Estelle, about two years ago, she took me aside to say, “I’m an old lady and I don’t want to die with George Bush in office.” I told her I’d just heard the very same thing from Kitty Carlyle Hart, whom I didn't know, but had been sitting next to at an event. That's how she'd answered when I'd asked her after such an illustrious past, what she was looking forward to.
If Bush did nothing else of value – and the evidence suggests that's the case – he motivated some extraordinary, elderly women to keep going.
Strangers remember Estelle as the woman in “When Harry Met Sally,” who said, “I’ll have what she’s having.”
If there were a movie, “When Carl Met Estelle,” who wouldn’t look at Estelle’s rich, long and loving life and say, “I’ll have what she’s having?”
1 comments:
Oh, I'm so sorry to hear that she's gone. Rob really did give her one of the memorable moments in film history.
I guess so many of us are waiting for the nightmare of the past eight years to finally end. Remember when we were happy? Even the impeachment proceedings seems tame compared to everything we've been through since 2000. Cigars and thongs vs. the Iraq war, the economy in meltdown, huge deficits, oy...pray baby, pray.
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