An Echo in Time

by Boo Walker

You chose Fear over love, Distance over touch. You chose Running and denial, Burning words And breaking hearts. You chose Ordinary over extraordinary, Complacency over disruption, Simplicity over greatness, The mundane over magic. You chose Smallness over expansion, Ease over beauty, Solitude over connection, Comfort over clarity. You chose over, And over, And over. And your choices Challenged me To choose, Too. I chose myself Over you. —Jenan McClain

“I am besties with you because I see in you what you don’t see in yourself. That part of you, I love being around. Don’t get me wrong, I love all of you. But the really good stuff, your soul. Your heart.

“What I know, Charli, is that love and happiness are universal rights. As soon as you tell me you don’t deserve them, I tune you out.”

“I know you’ve done all this work to get better, but I’m not sure you’re past it. You’re funny. You’re awesome when you let your light shine. You’re beautiful, Charli. You’re all the things. Guys are desperate to break through your barrier, but you’re not letting them in.”

But it’s more than genetics. With family constellations, a family exists within a cloud, a sort of energy field that includes dead family members. All my ancestors are connected to me. If something bad happened to them, or if they did something bad, I could be suffering from it too. Frances says the therapy allows the family to restore balance, taking away the suffering of not only you, but your family too. I know it sounds wack but . . .”

“family constellations.” A man named Alfred Adler coined the term,

“I can only imagine the places you’ve gone in your imagination. I suspect that much reading teaches you a lot about the world.”

“I think it’s nice to dive into other people’s worlds, see how they think. If anything, I’m maybe more open-minded than some.”

Chris Whitaker, We Begin at the End, about a guy who returns home after decades in prison. It’s fast moving, yet thought provoking. What was the girl’s name, the outlaw? Oh, Duchess Day Radley.” Charli beams as she recalls the character. “She’s one of the most interesting characters created in the last ten years.”

“You know what my father used to say? Failure is a step in the right direction.”

“No one can have a favorite book. I don’t believe in that.”

“Look,” he says, careful not to touch her, “I don’t sleep with people like that either. But you know what, it was pretty damned good. I don’t know what the future holds, but it makes me sad to think about. That’s what I was puzzling over at the table. Damn this world for finally putting an amazing woman in my life who lives a world away.”

“You two would like each other. Charli, Marianne is a lot of fun when she climbs off her broom.” “Oh, I’m a witch, am I?” She extends her middle finger. “Yeah, but you’re also my favorite sister.” “I’m your only sister, asshole.” “I love you, Marianne.”

Chills wash over her as she reaches tall and runs her fingers along them. She can feel Miles and Lillian’s love, and it pounds inside her. Retracting her hand, Charli looks at the photo again, now with a much better understanding of the love shared between the two.

“You didn’t kill her, did you?” If

Love is about being there for someone at their worst. It’s easy to be there when things are good.”

You’re trying to right the wrongs to reach a point of healing, but the healing is already taking place by you being on the journey.

“I am not responsible for what you did. None of us are. Your guilt is yours alone to bear, just as my mother’s is hers and no one else’s. I want to be set free from it. I want everyone in our family to be set free from what both of you did. The truth is finally out. Though we are bound by blood, I am no longer a part of your crime. No one else is.”

‘You’re only a smile away from being happy.’”

Sometimes things don’t work out the way in which you design them, but they work out just right, all the same.

I think there’s no doubt that when you’re doing the right things, the world seems to open up for you.”

Everyone has a right to create their own picture-perfect life, and posting it online isn’t about bragging—because it’s not a competition.