The Stars are on Our Side

by Jennifer Hartmann

Love at first sight isn’t a real thing—I know that. But there is certainly a something at first sight. A jolt, a magnetic draw, a heartbeat that skips and a world that narrows down, focusing on nothing but the space between you and that other person. It’s a moment when intuition overpowers reason and butterflies burst to life inside of you, their delicate wings tickling your heart.

The thing is, hope can be a savior, or it can be an executioner. There’s no way to know which way the cards will fall. Only time will tell, and time is just as unpredictable as hope.

Life is too short to waste precious time on people who don’t appreciate and value you—family or not.

“I’m t-trying to fly, but…” “I’ll be your wings,” he says, smoothing back my hair, his chin pressed to the top of my head. “You don’t have to save yourself this time. You’re not alone anymore.”

She set me on fire, leaving me nothing but a pile of ashes come sunrise. And I guess that’s the trouble with fire. It only knows how to burn.

I’ll take every claw mark, every painful laceration, just for the chance to fly with her one day.

Without a foundation, there’s no stability. You lose your balance. You fall. And I’m so damn tired of falling.

“What if I run out of my favorite coffee and have to settle for gas-station coffee? What if I lose my temper and snap at my child? What if I didn’t have time to shower one last time, or eat my favorite candy bar, or what if I accidentally cut someone off in traffic and that’s my final moment on Earth? My swan song.” I inhale a deep breath, a chill snaking down my back. “The last day is your last chance to get it right. To leave your mark and do everything you want to do. The idea of those final moments not being brilliant or memorable is terrifying to me.”

I’m going to face my fears with all of you watching, live on camera, and if I manage to make it off this roller coaster in one piece, I know it’ll be worth it. That feeling of overcoming is always worth the uphill climb.” Tabitha glances my way, blinking rapidly. “I think.”

“I believe that the sharpest minds find logic in the notion that logic cannot be found in everything. The smartest people know that they can’t possibly know all,” he told me, an air of fluidity in his tone. “The universe is too vast, too mysterious. Coincidence, fate, luck, dreams—those things can’t be discredited. Those things add another layer to the human condition and are just as important as science.”

Living. Truly living. That’s what love is. It’s finding that perfectly imperfect person that complements your heart, that brightens your shadows, that sees your broken, mismatched parts and wants to spend the rest of their life piecing them into place. And even if those pieces never fully fit, they love you anyway. They love you more. And I think we forget sometimes, the whole point of it all. We forget the beauty of living while we’re still alive.