The Summer Pact

by Emily Giffin

I often wonder what makes our coming-of-age friendships so powerful. I know the usual theories…. That they fill the void of adolescent loneliness. That they give us a sense of belonging. That they shape our adult identities. All these things are true, but when it comes right down to it, I think it’s a simple matter of who was there by our side, bearing witness to our loss of innocence.

“It’s not that the person doesn’t fear falling—because he does—it’s just that falling feels less terrible than burning,”

“While we will never fully understand why Summer chose to leave us, we pray that her memory remains an eternal blessing and a reminder to walk gently through this fragile life…to love…to be loved…and to do our best to ease the pain, despair, and suffering of others.

You can love being with a man, but you can’t count on one. If you try, you will get burned.

don’t know the answer,” she wrote. “But if he truly loved me, wouldn’t now be the time to show me? Maybe he’s thinking that it makes no sense to ruin her life when mine is nearly over. I am trying to understand that. I’m trying not to let bitterness overtake my heart. I’m trying to focus all my thoughts and energy on Lainey. She is the love of my life.”

Maybe love wasn’t a complete farce, but in the end, it was never worth the pain.

“And remember there’s a difference between your history and your legacy. Your history is what happened. Your legacy is what you set in motion.”

In that moment, I realized how much we take friendship for granted when we’re young, unable to grasp its significance until later in life.

Our perspective would never be the same. That’s the thing about innocence…. Once it’s gone, it’s gone forever.

What makes a friendship? What makes us choose to love the people we love?

It must be a huge comfort to believe in some sort of an afterlife. For me, though, death is a blackout. The end of the line. It was the end for Summer; it was the end for my mother; and one day, it will be the end for each of the three of us, too.

As Tyson looks out over the horizon, I admire his profile. At some point I think you stop noticing the way your friends look. You just see them as who they are. But in this moment, he looks so handsome.

But I have come to learn that we can’t live our lives in a small, fear-based way. We have to take risks. We have to love big. And we have to have faith in our friendships. They’ve gotten us this far.

Our lives will never be perfect, nor will the photos we take. What matters is that we are all doing our best. We are showing up for one another, even when things get rough, and against all odds, we are finding our way to happiness.