Amal Unbound

You always have a choice. Making choices even when they scare you because you know it's the right thing to do - that's bravery.

But the thing was—those books were what made my days bearable. They were what helped me sleep at night without my homesickness choking me. Without books, what was there to look forward to?

Change, no matter how good and necessary, comes with a price.

It turned out he wasn't just a poet. He was also a politician, a teacher, a lawyer, a scholar, and a knight. I thought one dream was enough for a person, but reading his story, I learned some people could hold on to many different dreams and see them all come true.

Sometimes I wish I did not pay such careful attention. Maybe then I would not have learned that they thought being a girl was such a bad thing.

The thing is- those books made my days bearable.

Until now I didn't realize how memories clumped together. Remembering one unlocked another and then another until you were drowning in a tidal wave threatening to sweep you away.

My mother always said the best way to feel better was to do something, anything. And she was right; making myself useful had always helped.

Making choices even when they scare you because you know it's the right thing to do - that's bravery.

But the thing was - those books were what made my days bearable. They were what helped me sleep at night without my homesickness choking me. Without books, what was there to look forward to?

Regret, I was learning, was the sharpest knife there was.

If I thought nothing would change, nothing ever would.