Sometimes it really does take Just One Day

Wow.  Wow.  Really.  Wow.  It's a basic story.  Boy and girl meet.  It's exciting.  It's quick.  It's not something either normally does.  It's whirlwind.  It's wonderful.  It's over.  Then the pain.  The heartache.  The living in a fog.  Then LIFE begins because of a CHOICE.  And then the story REALLY begins.  Wow.  Wow.  Wow.

Gayle Forman, I want to meet you and not only shake your hand, but hug you like you're my best friend and just listen to you talk.  The way you tell a story.....Wow.  This is now the third book I've read by you in less than a week and I will be reading (and finishing, I'm sure) JUST ONE YEAR within the next 24 hours.  You have taken what, on the surface, is nothing more than a "simplistic" and romantic love story and turned it into something POWERFUL and amazing that has rocked me to my core.  I feel--honestly--as if I've never REALLY READ anything until I've ready your books (except for HARRY POTTER, of course).

I have all three of Forman's books (IF I STAY; WHERE SHE WENT; and now JUST ONE DAY) on my Nook and I will read the next two (JUST ONE YEAR and JUST ONE NIGHT) on my Nook as well, but I want each of these books as BOOKS.  Books to hold in hands and touch and feel the power of them in the palms of my hands...to hold them close to my heart, physically.....to be able to open to any page and just start reading at any time....to see the written words on the pages....

I have always dreamed of being someone who goes on adventures such as Allyson does in JUST ONE DAY, but I never have.  I always find excuses for staying home and not going anywhere.  When I was young and in college, I always tore off the information on the posters about studying abroad, especially studying in England.  But that's all I ever did with the information.  The slips of paper got lost in my books where I'd used them as bookmarks or fell down into the bottom of my bookbag where they simply became scraps of paper to throw away at the end of a semester.

Then I met a boy, decided he was more important than going on any adventures, and that was that.

Do I regret getting married instead of doing something that is still on my bucket list?  In some ways I do.  I'm older now.  I'm in TERRIBLE shape.  I can barely walk from my car into my office without being out of breath and wheezing.  My back gives me enough trouble that not only do I see a chiropractor every three weeks, I'm also seeing a massage therapist every two weeks.  My health hasn't been good at all since I hit 30, but other than being overweight and my back, I'm in better health now in my early forties than I was throughout the decade of my thirties.  But now I'm married.  I have a son who is 13 and still seems to need me--and sometimes even WANT to spend time with me.  I have a GREAT job that I honestly and truly love.  I already don't see my biological family (Mom, Dad, brother, sister, niece, nephews, etc.) as often as I would like because I'm so busy all the time.

And don't even get me started on the money issue....

I lived vicariously through Allyson as I read her story and I remembered my dream of going overseas--to England, in particular, and I wish I had had the courage Allyson had.  That just once, I'd allowed myself to take that first step towards the unknown and just follow my instincts--my heart.

I don't wish for things to be different.  I simply wish that I would quit making excuses--even now--and follow through with my dreams and just DO them.  It's time to write and publish that book that's been inside of me waiting to be shared.  It's time to take that trip to England--and maybe even take my son with me.  It's time to DO and quit making excuses and quit living in that fog that I've wrapped around myself because it's SAFE.

We never know where life is going to take us until we take the first step towards LIVING.....(I read that somewhere; if I find out where, I'll add the source information.)

Again, this is a MUST-READ.  Thank you, Gayle Forman, for sharing your stories.  Thank you.