I Could Live Here Forever

by Hanna Halperin

Everyone in Wisconsin was imperfect, but nobody there was trying to pretend otherwise. It made being around them so much easier.

Being saved from sadness and saving someone from sadness—these weren’t just things I yearned for out of the blue. It was something I’d been born into. I didn’t know how to separate the feeling of love from the feeling of wanting to escape.

“We’re going to have the happiest life together.” And when he said it that time—I felt it. The gravity of the mistake I was making.

“A relationship isn’t supposed to make you happy. You find happiness on your own. A partner is there to support you and build with you. It seems as though you’re looking for some magic person who’s going to solve all your problems, but you have to do that yourself. What we have together is complicated, but it’s good and real.”