For the past two days I have spent my evenings reading a great new book, Belong to Me by Marisa De Los Santos. I had been wanting to read this novel for quite awhile and finally got my free copy from the public library, but this book I would definitely go spend the money to buy. Honestly I am not such a fan of any literature which doesn’t have a good central story. If I’m not sucked into the world and really care about the characters I am not going to highly enjoy the book. I might like it but I’m not going to crave it which usually causes me to read the entire piece in a sitting or two.

The story is set in a rural suburb of Philadelphia and at first glance I thought was going to revolve around living in a small town and how the new woman adapts to it. Yawn. Been there, done that, hell lived that one. After the first chapter or two you realize that the story isn’t from one person’s point of view but several characters and without noticing it these characters seem to weave themselves together. Each personal story begins to subliminally teach the reader a lesson which sounds painful or awful but I like to think of it as wake up call. I reminder of certain aspects of life we tend to not remember or pay enough attention to each day.

The most profound character is a near genius level 13 yr old kid, Dev. Dev’s one of those people that thinks about everything and takes thoughts into the abstract but without making you feel stupid or him sounding silly. It’s Dev’s thoughts on time that intrigued me. During 7th grade, he was ridiculed by a teacher who obviously was not as smart as Dev. Painfully this year seemed to crawl by for Dev. Each day seemingly becoming longer and more difficult to manage. Sensing his pain, Dav’s mom, Lake tests him and decides to move to this suburb so he can attend a special gifted high school. Dev flourishes there, makes friends, has teachers who listen to him and even meets a girl. Six months later, Dev feels like his old life in CA is like the miles between CA and Philly or years ago. His former life seems so distant he cannot even imagine living it.

I’m sure there’s some name for this feeling that time can slow or speed up. There are days when I look at the calendar thinking it’s October…..Wait, it’s October! In two weeks I will be turning 29. What happened to 28 or 27 or 26? Unlike Dev my life hasn’t improved that much over the years for this time to just fly by. In High school time felt like it stood still but HS was not a pleasant experience for me. I constantly fought the need to be invisible and the need to be shiny, bright, and visible. Not an easy balance beam to maneuver. Which leads me to my other favorite phenomenon to ponder; change.

Many times in my life I could actually feel the moment my life changed; for good. For most some of these moments deal directly with death. Anyone not affected by a loved one’s death I think might need some help. Death doesn’t always change a person in a negative way either. Sometimes it forces us into realizing we need to make other changes in our lives or simply live our life. I used to think ppl were full of crap when they said live your life…um, what else can you do? But it’s so very true. As I got older I kept hearing my mother’s voice as I said, “No I can’t do that trip right now, but in the future I’ll go”. My mom is 58 and this April is finally going to Europe. I desperately didn’t want my life to be the same way. Now I scrounge up money and just go. The experiences I’ve had from traveling will always mean more to me than any pair of shoes or clothing or computer gadget.

But there are other changes; subtle ones. The type where you stop one day, look at yourself in the mirror and think who is this person? Don’t go negative here but this can happen. Without even realizing it your attitude can change, the way you dress, think about the world. Those sneak up on you and usually are a good thing. Sometimes though, change will be forced upon you in a way you’d never expected. A broken heart, loss of a friendship, losing a job, realizing you’re not the person you’d always aspired to be…….these change us forever. Many revolve around people entering and leaving our lives, just like everything else sometimes it’s a good thing to purge an unhealthy relationship from your life. Other times it can be painful. Pain you feel throughout your entire body. Luckily that can heal.