Locust House Variations, A Weekly Fiction Column by Adam Gnade, “This is My Hope for You in the Shit World”
I want to tell you it’s going to be okay, but that’s a lie. The truth is it’s going to be okay then it’s going to get bad then maybe it’ll be okay again for a while. The only consistency I see is how inconsistent life is. This is the shit world, the world of us all.
My hope for you is that you will get it softer than most. I hope you will find friends. I hope you will find love and that the love you find will feel like a castle wall. I hope you will dream easy dreams and in the morning I hope you will sing to yourself as you make breakfast in a sunny kitchen. I hope you will think “This is the life” and mean it.
I hope you will look your demons right in the eye and I hope you will say, “No. You can’t have me.”
I hope you will never tire of thunderstorms. I hope you will hold onto the dreams you had when you first began to dream.
I hope you will feel safe where you are but also as wild as a flooding river and untamed as vining rose and morning glory.
This is my hope for you.