Fall Too Well

by Erin Branscom

She calls it my “Rory Gilmore-ing” when I bring an extra book in my purse just in case I get bored wherever I go. I can’t help it that fictional characters are often better than real people.

“Vicious trollop,” she says, keeping a straight face. I snort-laugh. “Yeah, right.” We’ve both watched Gilmore Girls a thousand times and repeatedly use phrases from the show. It’s like a love language between us that makes us laugh.

Meanwhile, my family was more like the family on Shameless. Frank Gallagher was like my father, Brian, and unfortunately, I didn’t have a Fiona to raise me.

can’t remember a time when I didn’t love Everly. Every little memory of her was like a million paper cuts to my soul. Everly is love. She’s the person who will always make me feel like she’s connected to me in every way. She’s like a piece of my soul, and I feel whole when she’s near me. I can’t remember a point in my childhood when she wasn’t a part of the memories.

I’m in my old-lady era now. I work at a library. I bake, read books, and drink tea. I’m in bed by nine o’clock reading.

“Soulmates come in the form of friends, too. Sometimes it’s not about romance. It’s someone who makes you feel whole and who understands you the most when the rest of the world doesn’t seem to understand you at all.

One thing I’ve learned is that family isn’t always the one you come from. It’s the one that you make.