A Walk to Remember

by Nicholas Sparks

My name is Landon Carter, and I’m seventeen years old. This is my story; I promise to leave nothing out. First you will smile, and then you will cry—don’t say you haven’t been warned.

“God is merciful to children, but the children must be worthy as well.”

Life, I’ve learned, is never fair. If people teach anything in school, that should be it.

Gossip is one thing, hurtful gossip is completely another, and even in high school we weren’t that mean.

But strangely, when Jamie turned to face us, I kind of got a shock, like I was sitting on a loose wire or something.

He sat in the front row and raised his hand every time the teacher asked a question. If he was called to give the answer, he would almost always give the right one, and he’d turn his head from side to side with a smug look on his face, as if proving how superior his intellect was when compared with those of the other peons in the room.

I remember so many people.

“I’d love to,” she finally said, “on one condition.” I steadied myself, hoping it wasn’t something too awful. “Yes?” “You have to promise that you won’t fall in love with me.”

Here she was, covered in puke, actually thanking me for the evening. Jamie Sullivan could really drive a guy crazy sometimes.

“I want to get married,” she said quietly. “And when I do, I want my father to walk me down the aisle and I want everyone I know to be there. I want the church bursting with people.”

“I’m sorry,” I said again. Whenever someone tells you something sad, it’s the only thing you can think to say, even if you’ve already said it before.

“Break a leg?” I said. Wishing someone luck before a play is supposed to be bad luck. That’s why everyone tells you to “break a leg.”

“You’re beautiful,” I finally said to her, and I think everyone in the whole auditorium, from the blue-haired ladies in front to my friends in the back row, knew that I actually meant it. I’d nailed that line for the very first time.

:))

Attitudes forged since childhood are hard to break, and part of me wondered if it might even get worse for her after this.

Even without sparkles in her hair or a long white flowing dress, the sight of her was arresting.

THE SIGHT OF HER WAS ARRESTING>SHE LOOKED BEAUTIFUL

She smiled at me and I smiled at her and all I could do was wonder how I’d ever fallen in love with a girl like Jamie Sullivan.

THE MOMENT WE'VE BEEN WAITING FOR

my mother kissed Jamie hello on the cheek. My mother, I couldn’t help but think as I watched her do it, had scored before I did.

HAHAHAHAAHA

It wasn’t that long, and it certainly wasn’t the kind of kiss you see in movies these days, but it was wonderful in its own way, and all I can remember about the moment is that when our lips first touched, I knew the memory would last forever.

I was in love, and the feeling was even more wonderful than I ever imagined it could be.

the simplicity of how this line was written. makes sense. love shouldn't be complicated.

“I love you, Jamie,” I said to her. “You’re the best thing that ever happened to me.”

Jamie Sullivan had leukemia… Jamie, sweet Jamie, was dying… My Jamie…

I began to pray for a miracle.

Everyone has heard the Twenty-third Psalm, which starts, “The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want,”

“I love you, too,” she finally whispered. They were the words I’d been praying to hear.

Love is always patient and kind. It is never jealous. Love is never boastful or conceited. It is never rude or selfish. It does not take offense and is not resentful. Love takes no pleasure in other people’s sins, but delights in the truth. It is always ready to excuse, to trust, to hope, and to endure whatever comes.

“And when I asked you to the homecoming dance, you made me promise that I wouldn’t fall in love, but you knew that I was going to, didn’t you?” She had a mischievous gleam in her eye. “Yes.” “How did you know?” She shrugged without answering, and we sat together for a few moments, watching the rain as it blew against the windows. “When I told you that I prayed for you,” she finally said to me, “what did you think I was talking about?”

All I know is that Jamie was soon surrounded by expensive equipment, was supplied with all the medicine she needed, and was watched by two full-time nurses while a doctor peeked in on her several times a day. Jamie would be able to stay at home. That night I cried on my father’s shoulder for the first time in my life.

If Jamie had taught me anything over these last few months, she’d shown me that actions—not thoughts or intentions—were the way to judge others, and I knew that Hegbert would allow me in the following day.

I am not commanding you, but I want to test the sincerity of your love by comparing it to the earnestness of others.

I would have married Jamie Sullivan no matter what happened in the future. I would have married Jamie Sullivan if the miracle I was praying for had suddenly come true. I knew it at the moment I asked her, and I still know it today.

It was, I remembered thinking, the most difficult walk anyone ever had to make. In every way, a walk to remember.

I smile slightly, looking toward the sky, knowing there’s one thing I still haven’t told you: I now believe, by the way, that miracles can happen.