A Time for Dancing by Davida Hurwin -- Spoiler Alert

What a tearjerker this book was! I finished it earlier tonight and I am still recovering. The story followed a year in the life of two best friends. However, this year changed life drastically for both of them. They were used to spending all of their time together: laughing, partying, and just having fun. But when one of the girls, Julie, was diagnosed with cancer, both friends took a hard hit. These girls, Julie and Sam, were so close that it was almost as if both had been told they had cancer.

After trying to fight the disease with a positive attitude, Julie was pulled into the harsh reality of her situation. She referred to her battle with cancer as her solo journey. She believed that no one could control how her life turned out at that point. This was hard for Julie to cope with, as it would be with anyone. Though I could never imagine having to go through what Julie went through, I try to empathize with her pain. I can definitely understand her worries about battling cancer on her own. Nobody likes to face a tough situation by themselves. Humans love having safety nets. This reminds me of Holden not wanting to grow up in The Catcher and the Rye because he would have to face life on his own. And Holden still had his life ahead of him.

Sadly, Julie did not. Ultimately, cancer won the battle and she ended up dying at the end of the book. This is when the real waterworks started to come. With tears in my eyes (then and now), I finished reading the book. This really left me thinking. I had a hard day today, but nothing like the year that Julie and Sam went through. I realized that I should really hold on to what I have and not get hung up with what I don't have. Of course I would love to say that I will never take anything for granted again and that I will never get upset over little things. But, I'm only human. There is no way for people to be happy all of the time, even if they should be. I'm sure I will still have my moments, but hopefully I will always be able to keep the ideal state of mind close behind.

The end of the book quotes the song "Imagine" by John Lennon. That was very fitting as the closing scene took place at Julie's funeral. All of her loved ones were left imagining what Julie's life would have been and how this would impact their own life. Likewise, I was left imagining how people go through these struggles everyday. I hope that people can deal with these struggles and others can help those deal with them. Then I hope "the world will be as one" (John Lennon).