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Kindle Notes & Highlights
Reading about people who look and live and speak so differently from us, yet struggle like we do with their inner demons and outside forces, fight for love in their friendships and families and the people they’ve fallen for, reminds us that not only romantic love, but familial and platonic and sacrificial love is universal, and romance is timeless, that there’s a love story for anyone out there who wants one.”
I gave him a romance novel because they’re a safe place to step deeper into our emotions, the happy ones and the hard ones. To recognize and process complex, sometimes difficult feelings within ourselves that the world tells men, in all its gendered, toxic bullshit, we have no obligation to face and feel, when we really do. As humans, we owe it to ourselves to know our hearts.”
And that’s the best kind of friendship, isn’t it? Friendship that lets laughter and tears hold hands, where grief and gratitude can be friends, not enemies.
“But now, I think I understand. It’s not that marriage is this fortifying element in and of itself. It’s not the teary wedding-day promises or the legal license or the indestructible rings that make a marriage strong. It’s the people. It’s their choices. It’s how strong they make it.”
Aiden turns slowly, pinning him with an arctic glare. “Yes, Viggo. Still. It’s called being a work in progress. A mere mortal. One day, when you fall from your idyllic cloud in the sky and hit earth, you’re going to learn that loving someone is a lot more than reading romance novels and being emotionally intelligent. And frankly, I’m going to bring my beer and soak up every goddamn minute.”
I’m learning that being brave isn’t being fearless but rather facing our fears and not letting them dictate our lives. It’s living honestly in the imperfection of existence. It’s finding love in those messy places and fighting for it. And that is deeply vulnerable.
“Sorry,” he says breathlessly, pressing his forehead to mine. “As soon as I’ve kissed you, I want to kiss you again. It’s a vicious cycle.”
