The Love That Split the World

by Emily Henry

“When I was your age, I knew nothing. Nothing about myself, nothing about the universe or about heartbreak. I remember being terrified to grow up, afraid of losing my friends, sure I’d lose my mind. Life felt like a blender that wanted to eat me. But the things that happened to me when I was just a little bit older than you are—those things made the blender feeling seem like a bubble bath.”

Learn to listen, listen with your bones, let the story fill you.

“Stories are born from our consciousness,”

“They come from the things we already know. They come from the things we learn from our ancestors and our kin. We all learn different things, depending on where we’re born, so the stories you hear will be different. So too the things your kin decide to do will be different. So too the things you decide to do will be different. The way to make the best decisions is to listen to all the stories and to know them by heart and to feel them in your bones.

Funny thing about belonging to two worlds: Sometimes you feel like you belong in zero.

Everything but the truth goes away in the end.

“It’s hard to feel like you belong when you don’t know who you are, and it’s hard to know who you are when you don’t know where you come from.”

Maybe by this time next year, when I look at or think about Matt Kincaid, my heart won’t start to break. Maybe I’ll be able to think of him as my friend again.

I just know if I only get to build one porch in my life, I’d like it to be yours, and if there’s one person I never have to hurt or disappoint, I’d want that to be you too.”

Recognizing someone as a part of you before they’ve even become that person in your life, and knowing, without a doubt, that neither of you will ever be who are you in this exact moment ever again and believing, against all odds, you will continue to belong to one another despite that.

You shouldn’t be scared of someone you love, Natalie.”

You feel things deeply. Growing up is going to hurt. Only you can decide if the pain is worth the love.”

Now the problem for highly emotional people is that feelings are unstable and unreliable.

“Sometimes the most beautiful moments in our lives are things that hurt badly at the time. We only see them for what they really were when we stand at the very end and look back.”

I need him to feel safe, like he makes me feel safe. I need to wrap my love around him and leave it there, even after I’m pulled away from him forever.

I want you to understand something, Natalie. No matter how hard it feels, you don’t need to be afraid to move on. There’s always more to see and feel.