jehanthepoet:

William Goldman died today, and so I’m going to talk about the Princess Bride for a second.

I don’t remember the first time I watched the Princess Bride. It was always one of my favorite moves, for as long as I can remember. My earliest memory of it is being nine years old, and voting for that movie whenever my friends or sister wanted to watch a movie. By middle school I had seen it so many times I could quote it verbatim (and often did, I was an annoying child).

I remember a car trip with some family friends where any of the four children in the car (ranging in age from 7-10) would say “No more rhymes now, I mean it!” and the rest of us would shriek in unison “ANYBODY WANT A PEANUT?” before dissolving into laughter.

The first time I read the book, I was in high school, and I fell in love instantly. It gave me knowledge of inside jokes I didn’t even know I was missing. It let me see the backstory of these characters I had considered friends for so long. I was heartbroken that it had taken me so long to get to this obviously essential thing.

And when my mom, who was terminally ill with ALS, had deteriorated to the point where she couldn’t even leave her bed without an incredible amount of help, I read the Princess Bride to her. My sister and I sat in her room and would read to her, at least a chapter a day, because no matter how horrible things in the real world were, that was our story, and it was always a safe haven for us.The first time I watched the Princess Bride after my mother died Count Rugan’s death resonated with me in a new way.

In college, I would put the movie on in the background when I had to write a particularly stressful essay, and I would read my favorite passages when I was sad.

My copy of The Princess Bride is torn at the spine. Almost every page is dogeared, and there’s a blue stain on the corner of the pages from….a marker? Dying easter eggs? I’m not sure. It’s a book I’ve brought everywhere with me for the past decade. It’s a story that has defined my life.

William Goldman didn’t just change my life, he shaped it, and I hope he knew what a deep impact he had.