Sisters First: Stories from Our Wild and Wonderful Life

by Jenna Bush Hager

I felt that if I was lucky enough to get the chance to live, I needed to take extra chances in return.

Unbeknownst to me, with that fear I was falling in love. In love with being scared and unsure; in love with being far outside my comfort zone.

We talked in snippets, and, for a few months, our lives diverged. It made us independent. When we were together again after that, it felt like a choice, not a habit or even an obligation. Our bond was better, stronger, and more sure.

Sometimes friendship is about opening your eyes to new places; sometimes it’s about making sure that you don’t see too much.

While I do believe that the decisions he made will ultimately be judged by history, perhaps many different times and with many different outcomes and interpretations, that’s not his daughters’ role. Our relationship is with the private man, the dad who loves us as his kids, and whom we love in return.

I didn’t drop the course, but I was left with the profound discomfort of wondering how many other people thought a presidential daughter should be held responsible for any beliefs other than her own.

Do not fear doing what you believe is the right thing regardless of who is listening in the wings (or even the West Wing, in my case).

I now know that the places I have been have led me full circle, back to a renewed love of home.

She gave him no choice but to live. And so he did.