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The problem is we spend most of our puny lives chasing someone else’s someone, and, if we’re lucky, we end up with only a third of the time we could’ve spent with the person truly meant for us. That is, if we don’t wind up missing them altogether.
“Uh, okay, well, I’ve always loved reading. But there aren’t a lot of books about kids like me. And I just think every kid deserves a book that looks like them. So . . . you can laugh now.”
“You’re weird,” she says. “Uh, thanks,” I say, laughing. “Appreciate that.” “In a good way, silly. You’re likably weird.”
“Don’t be afraid. Take chances. And when those don’t work out, take more.”
But I don’t budge. Not a muscle, not an eyelash; somewhere a mime is murderous with envy.
“We’ll have you.” Kate laughs. “We?” “I mean, me. Me’ll have you.” I can feel her smile through the phone. “Oh, I can’t wait to be awkward with you in person, Jack.” “The feeling’s all the way mutual.”
I want her to feel safe with me. The way she makes me feel safe.
I’m afraid I don’t even have inebriated white people at a party rhythm.
People always say they’re happy you’re happy until they’re afraid that maybe your happiness is affecting their happiness and then they’re not so happy about you being so happy.
“The thing is, you don’t forfeit your whole world to prove your feelings to someone. You bring your worlds together. You get more world, not less.”
We love to say everything’s going to be okay, but honestly there’s no way to know. And okay can mean so many different things.
Jillian and I scribble numbers onto napkins, and when Franny walks back out, we lean out of our windows and hold up our napkins—and my napkin says “7.5” and Jillian’s says “perfect 10,” because love is knowing the bad is there but choosing to appreciate the good.
Nothing good in life comes easy, but it’s about deciding each day that you will stick with it. You choose to stay, to work hard, to love, and you keep choosing.
So the earth rotates around the sun, right? And it would be super weird for it to start happening the other way around, right? Like, suddenly the sun starts revolving around the earth— Except that’s sorta like what loving someone is all about— You’re moving along life, doing your thing, managing your priorities and commitments— And then suddenly you meet THE ONE. And you fall completely out of the orbit you’ve been spinning in. And now you’re doing laps around this new world. And you’re hoping gravity can sustain you. But there’s no way of knowing if it can until you realize it can’t. Guess
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And we dance our ugly dances with unrelenting gusto, as if we’ve just discovered that ugly dancing saves lives, and we are determined to save every life that we can.
In the end, it’s the smallest decisions that matter most. The seemingly insignificant choices we make every day— To be honest with the people we love and with ourselves— To let go of the things we can’t control, and appreciate the things we can.
