Pack Up the Moon

by Kristan Higgins

In love wasn’t a phrase. It was how they lived, wrapped in the warm, soft blanket of mutual adoration, and in this moment, on this evening, nothing else mattered.

There’s something about being near the ocean that puts your life in perspective. It’s reassuring, that’s what it is.

She wanted to leave her mark. That was the advice Dad had given her when she was seventeen and wondering what to do as an adult. “Whatever you choose, do with all your heart, and leave your mark,” he said, covering her hand with his. “If you’re going to be a bartender, be the bartender everyone loves to talk to, who invents the best drinks and makes you feel right at home. If you’re going to be a hairdresser, make every customer feel good about themselves.”

She missed her dad with a constant ache. She missed the reassurance, the comfort a good father brings a daughter.

When you’re living with a ticking clock, you can’t be a loser. You can’t think about what you won’t get to see, what you’ll never have. Ain’t no one got time for that.

I live in your heart, and there’s no better place I could be.

The world is lucky to have you, and I was the luckiest of all.

Everyone should get to die like this, in the arms of the person they loved best.