Just the Way You Are

by Beth Moran

Why do you need a man to complete your Dream List? Why not do it on your own?

I watched her whizzing off to freedom, T-shirt flapping in the late-afternoon breeze and, in that moment, I knew exactly how she felt.

I wasn’t sure what I enjoyed most – doing what I liked, or finally discovering what it was I liked to do.

today was a new day, rich with endless possibilities as beautiful and magnificent as this new dawn.

Reminder to self: Sam never forgets anything I say.

there are imperfect, mixed-up, complicated people everywhere. People who are simply doing the best they can to shake off whatever’s been dumped on them, pick themselves up and keep on going.

I will take many wrong turns, and I may well fail spectacularly, along with every other person who ever lived. And when these things happen, I will shake it off and get back up again – maybe accepting a helping hand, if I need it – and I will keep on going.

I didn’t know it was possible to miss someone so much while still being so happy not to have to see or hear from them.

Being without one’s mother can be difficult. Having something pretty to look at may in some small way help.

Maybe sometimes families are made, not born.

‘Because a tiny chance is still a chance. And that makes it worth it.’

‘I’ll leave these here,’ Ebenezer said, placing the tray on my table. He then twitched his face at me in a gesture so out of character that it took me a few seconds to realise that he’d actually winked.

I love this man, he’s so precious.

‘I’m not reading the whole book.’ ‘Why don’t you start it from there and we’ll see how it goes. You can stop when we get to a boring bit.’ ‘You mean the blank page at the end?’

For my darling Ada, the best of women. Yours forever, Barry.

Why am I on the verge of tears???

Is there a bigger risk than choosing to be yourself, however boring or peculiar that might be, and allowing other people to know that person, while committing to loving them for the long haul?

A kiss that woke up parts of me I hadn’t known were sleeping. A kiss that contained a thousand promises of love and laughter and a lifetime of kisses to come. It was the kiss I’d been dreaming of since I sat in my bedroom and started a list. It was the kind of kiss that made a woman believe dreams can come true, after all.