High School "Un-Sweethearts" & a Leap of Faith
Following your intuition...
I was all set to obsess share about our apple harvest, which as usual, is Too Much of a Good Thing. But recovering from a strong reaction to the Covid vax, I’m following my intuition to let go of all those dang apples and the mouse sign under the bathroom sink!
I’m taking a break from Little Farm Writer’s regularly-scheduled homesteady content to consider, of all things, high school sweethearts.
As John and I made an apple crisp together last week (12 apples down, only 300 more to go), my thoughts skittered off to my teen years, when I baked my first fruit crisps.
Not long after, in my senior year of high school, I started dating the boy who became my first husband.
So my teenager self was on my mind when I opened Rainbow Rowell’s latest novel, “Slow Dance.”
You’ve encountered the premise before: two high school sweethearts go their separate ways, then reconnect later in life. At a friend’s wedding! Yep, standard stuff.
But this second-chance-at-love story, about high school “un-sweethearts,” felt fresh in unexpected ways.
Almost as if it was written just for me. I could see parts of my life in the story—especially about the two teens, Shiloh and Cary, being crazy about each other.
But in “Slow Dance,” they were platonic. They never dated.
I also identified with the novel’s midwestern setting. And even with the heroine, at least a little.
Shiloh was a bit odd, awkward even. And though I could put on a good act as a fairly normal teen, I was terribly shy. Also like her, I was easily embarrassed, unable to express myself.
I could also relate to Shiloh and Cary being high school seniors together, where the clubs, the cliques, and the prom were all part of the experience.
Shiloh went on to college, just as I did. And Cary who’d had a challenging family life, left town for the Navy, as my husband did.
She ended up a single mother of two—I did too.
The similarities pretty much end there…but as I read on, I could imagine the twists and turns of Shiloh’s life being sort of an alternate life for me, in a “Sliding Doors” movie kind of way.
(But that’s for the autobiographical novel I’ll never write!)
Still, the most compelling aspect of the story was that the characters and their struggles, their embarrassments and their regrets felt so painfully real. And just like in real life, the characters were confronted with so many “if only’s.”
I might as well warn you, for a story with minimal sexual content, the book takes a surprisingly spicy turn towards the ending. I had to wonder if a different editor took over for the last chapters. Yet somehow, the sexy stuff worked for the fully adult Shiloh and Cary.
As for the resolution… Semi-spoiler alert: HEAs aren’t only for fairy tales!
A Leap into the Unknown + Quote of the Month
Another pair of high school sweethearts on are my mind today, as they embark on a whole new chapter of their lives. My daughter and son-in-law.
They’ve worked (insanely) hard since they were just kids. Over the years, they parlayed that hard work and generous income into a big, lovely home, a cruising boat for weekend forays, regular trips to Vegas, to California to see their favorite NFL team, and back East to see family.
Plus resort vacations in the Caribbean.
In essence, livin’ large.
After several novel-worthy career twists and turns last spring, they decided to follow their intuition into an epic life makeover: Letting go of an entire lifestyle—to RV around the country for the next nine months.
And after that, who knows?
To buy the RV, for the first time in their marriage, they’ve gone on a strict budget. Zero discretionary spending.
They’ve sold their boat, their second car, my son-on-law’s shiny Harley, and nearly all their furniture. As I write this, there’s no going back, as they close on the sale of their beautiful house.
To me, it’s one of the bravest life changes I’ve encountered. I was worried for my daughter, though. She left a career as a high-level executive for tech firms. She wasn’t just letting go of her house and stuff, but shedding her identity.
When I saw her a week ago, I asked her how she was handling that.
“Mom,” she said, “I could’t give two shits about my identity.”
Relieved, I had to laugh. She has the perfect attitude for their leap into the unknown!
Have you made any leaps of faith? I hope you’ll share!
If you missed my homesteady stuff, you can mosey over to “Homestead Garden Class Takeaways” and “Using Mulch in Your Food Garden” at my Little Farm blog.
Thank you so much for spending time with me! If you enjoyed this post, I hope you’ll press ❤️…it helps other people find Little Farm Writer!
Warmly,
~Susan, from the Foothills
Thank you for including our adventure, Mom. I will have to check out this book as well!
She sounds as though she's reached the maturity that we all crave! Safe travels to them both and best wishes to the Mum who will worry back home!