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Songs are funny like that—you might not hear them play for years, but you still remember every word. And I think it’s because songs are more than words, more than notes, more than verses and choruses. Words fade and scatter over time, but songs tied to life’s most precious memories live inside of us forever.
I’ve been running from it, thinking my time here was limited…but limited or not, time is a precious thing. Every minute of it. Our time here is a gift, and love is the prize if we’re lucky enough to find it. The holy grail. Love is what it’s all about.”
“The only thing stronger than fear is our tenacity to overcome it.”
“Even a tragedy can have a happy ending. Sometimes we just need to write it in ourselves.”
I think about Emma’s last diary entry, about all the things she learned from love. If I’ve learned anything, it’s that it always comes with an unsavory side of heartache. There’s no joy without grief, no fulfillment without loss, no laughter without pain. Yin and yang. That’s just the way the world works, and I guess it’s up to us to weigh the good and the bad.
“Don’t let this define your life, Lucy. Make every moment count. Find love, hold onto it, and don’t ever let the fear allow it to slip through your fingers.” He squeezes my hand, his expression softening. “I’m happy now…with Angie. I haven’t moved on, but I’ve moved forward. And I think that’s all we can ever do. We store the past away, seal it up tight and carry it with us, but we don’t live in it anymore. We learn from it. That’s how we keep going,”
There’s no better way to survive the worst possible scenario life hands you. There’s only the way you choose.
Within the tangled roots of grief, we stand to lose so much. But no one ever acknowledges what we stand to gain. Strength. Perspective. Appreciation. Resilience. Those things are often buried, overpowered by grief’s mighty right hand—suffering. They exist, though. There’s beauty in the breakdown, a glimmer of light hidden in the smoke. And sometimes, every once in a while, if you’re truly lucky… There is love.
