The Choice

by Nicholas Sparks

guilt was the cornerstone of any good marriage. It meant that a conscience was at work, values were held in high esteem, and reasons to feel guilty were best avoided whenever possible.

But things change. People change. Change was one of the inevitable laws of nature, exacting its toll on people’s lives. Mistakes are made, regrets form, and all that was left were repercussions that made something as simple as rising from the bed seem almost laborious.

Parents might believe themselves to be the bosses, but in the end it was the kids who made the rules.

That’s the thing about being the product of happily married parents. You grow up thinking the fairy tale is real, and more than that, you think you’re entitled to live it.

She knew that time had a funny way of dimming the edges of reality until only something blurry remained,

that’s what traveling should be about. Meeting people, learning to not only appreciate a different culture, but really enjoy it like a local, following whatever impulse strikes you.

If you have the right mind-set, it doesn’t matter where you end up or how much money you brought. It’ll be something you’ll remember forever.”

For the most part, people go through the same experiences and think the same things, but somehow no one ever escapes the belief that his experience is unique in every conceivable way.”

Beauty and earthy common sense were a rare combination, yet he doubted she was even aware she possessed it.

“That staring at the stars was like staring backward in time, since some stars are so far away that their light takes millions of years just to reach us. That we see stars not as they look now, but as they were when dinosaurs roamed the earth. The whole concept just struck me as… amazing somehow.”

If conversation was the lyrics, laughter was the music, making time spent together a melody that could be replayed over and over without getting stale.

Marriage, each of them realized intuitively, was about compromise and forgiveness. It was about balance, where one person complemented the other.

where there was life, there was always hope.