Five Feet Apart

by Rachael Lippincott

I know in that moment, even though it could not be more ridiculous, that if I die in there, I won’t die without falling in love.

Now, about that song… “Bushel And A Peck” is a song my grandmother used to sing to us kids, and those kids now sing it to their kids, and so on. When I was writing the pre-surgery scene, where Will comes in to comfort Stella, (and to stand in for Abby), the song kind of… inserted itself into the scene. Then I quickly backtracked to also include the song in the polypectomy video. Right after I wrote it in, I immediately stared at what I’d done. “No,” I said. “Nuh-uh, nope, no way. No one is going to know this song. It’s going to sound lame, everyone’s going to hate it. What in the stupid hell was I thinking?” But... I couldn’t make myself take it out. I kept deleting it, then putting it back in, then deleting it again. Finally, Tobias said, “Just leave it in and see what happens.” So I did. I sent the first draft of the script to Justin and I held my breath. He sent me an email a little later that literally brought tears to my eyes. His family also sings that song to their kids, and their kids, and so on. It was kismet. To think I almost took it out. There’s a lesson in this. My heart wrote that song into the script. My head tried to take it out. Always listen to your heart.