The Overdue Life of Amy Byler

by Kelly Harms

Like most good-looking things, my house is high maintenance. My house makes it so I never, ever have any extra money. If my house starts to notice I’ve been squirreling away a hundred dollars here or there to try to get my kids to a national park for a week, the house breaks something. I think it has abandonment issues.

“Lena. You make it sound so unreasonable to hate him forever.” “It is unreasonable to hate anyone forever,” I say, mostly to myself. “Lena is right, as usual.”

“Do you think forgiveness is a skill learned through practice, like playing chess, or a talent given to you at birth, like singing in tune?”

“Yes,” says Lena, in her way. “Some people have to practice forgiveness and will never be naturals. They’ll either do the work and get awesome at it but always have to think it over—or never do the work and die with a sack of hurts the size of an elephant. I know, because I’m in danger of being one of those people whenever I stop paying attention.”

“Some people, like your mother, forgive so naturally they don’t notice it happening. They’ll get hurt twice as often because they are so quick to forgive but feel it half as ...

I learned the annoying truth of the old maxim—that which doesn’t make you kill yourself will probably make you tough as an old grizzly and twice as mean—

Sometimes a book about other people’s problems is way better than your own.

It sets me back on my heels to know Talia’s job isn’t carved in stone. It was easy to tell myself that Talia’s life was simply perfect in every way. And honestly, she did make a single, child-free life seem pretty wonderful. But of course, she isn’t the master of her own destiny any more than I am. She answers to people. She takes her lumps. She just looks much better while doing it.

Perhaps there is something to be said for bossing people around when you are very good at it.