More on this book
Community
Kindle Notes & Highlights
You had to maximize joy when it fluttered into your life. You had to honor it. And savor it. And not stomp it to death by reminding everyone of everything you’d lost.
Clark Gable is fan-yourself sexy, Claudette Colbert is sassy and gorgeous, and the romantic tension? You could eat it with a spoon. This is the road trip rom-com that launched a thousand road trip rom-coms—and it swept the Oscars, winning all of the big five categories, including Best Screenplay. It’s a titan of the genre. It’s practically sacred.
I had a theory that we gravitate toward the stories we need in life. Whatever we’re longing for—adventure, excitement, emotion, connection—we turn to stories that help us find it. Whatever questions we’re struggling with—sometimes questions so deep, we don’t even really know we’re asking them—we look for answers in stories.
Plus: Bearing witness to the suffering of others? I don’t know if there’s anything kinder than that. And kindness is a form of emotional courage. And I’m not sure if this is common knowledge, but emotional courage is its own reward.
“Believing in things that aren’t real? Making something out of nothing? Connecting dots that don’t need or want to be connected? That’s what all the best writers do.”
“I’ll do this research,” he said then, “and I’ll let you slam into me a hundred times, and I’ll watch you ogle that Italian guy, and I’ll double-knot your laces all night long…”
“But I will never”—he paused for emphasis—“ever put leg warmers on my sneakers.”
“Emma Wheeler, meet the legendary Donna Cole. Donna Cole, meet my new favorite writer, Emma Wheeler.” Donna Cole tilted her head. “Your new favorite writer, huh?”
Because just as I turned to him, unsure of how to shift gears from whatever that just was to doing an ordinary thing like eating dinner … Charlie said, with a slow nod, “I get it now.” “Get what?” I asked. Charlie met my eyes. “Why we’re rewriting this story.”
“Whatever story you tell yourself about your life, that’s the one that’ll be true.”
“Here’s another thing I accidentally figured out: happiness is always better with a little bit of sadness.”
If you wait for other people to light you up, then I guess you’re at the mercy of darkness.
“I’m so sorry, Emma,” he said then. “I would write a hundred happy endings for us if I could.”
If those are the only stories we tell about ourselves, then those are the only stories we have.”
We don’t get to know the whole story all at once. And where we’re headed matters so much less than how we get there.
He cures her loneliness. He shines light on her shadows. He makes her laugh all day long and into the night. That’s how she sees it: she takes care of him, but he takes care of her, too. And it’s so plain to see that they have much more fun together than they’d ever have apart.
I don’t think marriage is hard. I think, in fact, if you do it right, marriage is the thing that makes everything else easier.”
love is something you can learn. Love is something you can practice. It’s something you can choose to get good at. And here’s how you do it.” He
“Appreciate your person.”
“Choose a good, imperfect person who leaves the cap off the toothpaste, and puts the toilet paper roll on upside down, and loads the dishwasher like a ferret on steroids—and then appreciate the hell out of that person. Train yourself to see their best, most delightful, most charming qualities. Focus on everything they’re getting right. Be grateful—all the time—and laugh the rest off.”
“There it is. The whole trick to life. Be aggressively, loudly, unapologetically grateful.”
That’s what I’ve decided. It’s all about the details you notice. And the joys you savor. And the hope you refuse to give up on. It’s all about writing the very best story of your life. Not just how you live it—but how you choose to tell it.
