The Girl He Used to Know

by Tracey Garvis Graves

If there was one thing I loved almost as much as animals, it was books.

It’s funny how the very trait that attracts you to someone is the same trait you can’t stand when you’re untangling yourselves from each other. And not funny ha-ha. Funny like how in the world could you not have seen it?

Though I still had far to go, I’d learned so much about people and life, and that there were very good and very bad things about both.

“Changing how you deal with something is not the same thing as changing who you are as a person.

I required more downtime than most people. I needed to be able to read and sleep and be alone.

Literally me

“It’s because of you that I know what it feels like to be loved and accepted.”

That was another thing I’d discovered over the years. If you’re quiet and don’t make a lot of sound, for some reason people think it means there’s something wrong with your hearing. But there was nothing wrong with mine.

All my life, I’d been waiting for someone I could be myself with. It had never occurred to me that I could be that person for someone else.

But then I remembered that no one can make me feel inferior without my consent.”

‘A woman is like a tea bag; you never know how strong it is until it’s in hot water.’

But that day in his bathroom, at his mother’s house in Waukegan, I knew that Janice had been right when she said I was falling in love with Jonathan, even if I couldn’t completely identify it yet myself.

“I like books more than I like most people,”

“It’s like everyone around you has a copy of the script of life, but no one gave it to you so you have to go in blind and hope you can muddle your way through. And you’ll be wrong most of the time.”

It would be because I’d lose you to yourself. To the things going on in your head. Can you let me in all the way? Can you tell me straight up what you’re dealing with, what you’re feeling? I’ve figured out most of it, and I want you to know that I don’t care if you need help sometimes.”

Life isn’t easy for anyone. We all have challenges. We all face adversity. It’s how we overcome it that makes us who we are.”

“I never really stopped loving you. Sometimes I don’t know why, but I do. You’re going to have to accept that I’m a grown man and can handle whatever you throw at me. You need things from me, and I get that. But so do I. I need you to show me that you’re not going to crumble every time you’re faced with a little adversity. I need you to show me that we’re in this together.”

I don’t think there’s any way to truly know whether someone is kind until you put your trust in them and show them kindness of your own.