The Truth About Forever
When I was an impressionable teenager, I had a small obsession with Sarah Dessen. I read everything available quickly, and then waited impatiently for anything. Then, I went to college, got into errotic fiction, and that was the end of that. Still, for years I stopped by the young adult section every now and again just to look at the Sarah Dessen Novels. Just the sight of those book spines filled me with an unexplainable joy. I knew I would always remember those stories fondly.
Fast froward, it's about three years ago and I meet the love of my life. Sarah's books had nothing on the way I felt when he asked me to spend the rest of my life with him. When you feel that incredible, it’s hard to imagine there will ever be another day that you don’t. Even so, it’s hard to walk on air when a pandemic hits smack dab in the middle of planning your wedding. I was determined to stay posotive, so I was on the hunt for anything I could think of that made me feel good. Between working full time and setting up a DIY wedding that we may or may not have had a place to throw, I needed everything I did to be time and cost effective. I found myself meandering the public library's vitual shelves. It gave me the idea to re-read one my favorite Sarah Dessen books, just for a little peace during the day.
When I did that, it all came rushing back. I devoured that first book (my old favorite, Ther Truth About Forever) and returned to curbside pick up several times to check out everything they had, written by Sarah Dessen. That's when I realized just how intregal those books had been in helping me build my confidence as a young woman. I orginally read them because they were romantic, but I realized upon re-reading them, that each one was about a young girl's very unique journey to finding herself. They taught me how to do the same. In the difficult ways, like how to ask for help, and be honest with the people I love. To define myself by no one's standards but my own. That even though some girls had stabbed me in the back thus far, I would find my girls, if I was willing to be patient. In the simple ways, like how incredibly easy staying organized could make my life and sometimes, actions speak louder than words.
Without even realizing it I had reffered back to these stories years after reading them. They were a huge help when I hit life's inevitable road blocks and milestones. In the end I used a quote from The Truth About Forever in my wedding vows. Then I spent the six months leading up to my wedding reminding myself what I had learned the first time around. If I can trust myself above all else, my life can't help but to turn out alright.