Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy.
I wanted to play with them. I wanted an attic, to put on plays, to laugh and laugh and laugh until I couldn't stand it.
And I wanted a friend like Laurie. A good person who seemed to like spending time with me even though I was a girl.
I would have to say I did have a friend like that. His name was Michael, and I had a huge crush on him. Not only did he let me play, but he didn't get mad when I won. He was blond and blue-eyed. Pretty near perfect in my opinion.
Little Women taught me a lot. How to be brave and fearless, and what true strength is.
Beth's path astounded me. Often overlooked. Having to encounter her fears on a more regular basis than anyone else. And she had to fight death. I couldn't believe it, and I wanted to jump inside the pages and punch the illness inflicting her.
When she took her last breath, my heart broke and that's when I knew life was precious. That's when I understood that things changed, people grew up and wouldn't stay seven-years-old forever. That's when I started looking forward....
I understood, before my peers, that adulthood would happen, that the decisions I made now would matter when I was older. And this knowledge helped me combat peer pressure and other things that would try to influence me to be different than who I wanted to be. I grew determined to have the future I wanted. I refused to lose faith and give in to who my peers thought I should be.
Isn't it amazing that a book can do that? I'm extremely thankful for Little Women. I've loved it for forever, and I'll never forget what it did for me.
Do you have a book that formed your decisions? Please share in the comments!