What do you do when your best friend is dying?
The end is near for Julie. Throughout the cancer and the change that she had gone through, when she found herself yelling a lot, her younger sister Rosie became afraid of her almost. I was worried that it was going to end that way. Julie would be gone and Rosie would only remember her yelling. The last chapter for Julie ends with a moment between the two sisters where they are happy and smiling at one another. I think that would give Julie some ease as she lets go, knowing that all was right with her baby sister.
My heart just breaks as I write this and it is hard for me to hold back tears and not think of how I would feel if I was in Sam’s position. The dance company that Sam and Julie dance for is going on tour and they put on a big banquet to kick it off. Julie made sure she was there.
“ Jules found time alone with each dancer in the company, holding a hand out for her to take and listening carefully to her words. Then Jules would speak, and even though I couldn’t hear what she had said, each person came away changed somehow, a little bigger, a little deeper, touched by their moment with her.” (Said by Sam)
I guess when someone has cancer and they are secretly saying their goodbyes, we can tell. We know what is coming next but we try to make it seem like it is something else, something better, something a little less real.
Something that Linda said, their dance teacher, hit me so hard. I thought it was so powerful and heart warming and something that would have make Julie’s leaving a little more easier.
“I just want to say to Julie that we’ll miss you on this tour. You should be going with us, and I hate that you’re not. You are an incredible, inspirational young woman, and I love you very much. We all do. And so we are dedicating our work this next week to you. All of it. We will be dancing for you, even if you won’t get to see it, except in the video. We’re calling it ‘The Juliana Tour.’”
Wow. Julie was crying when Linda said this and so was I. It was just so touching and it was such an emotional moment that I found myself bounded to the characters and unable to turn away from the book, except to grab a tissue.
There were two parts in the next few pages of the book that made me start crying uncontrollably and say “Oh my god” out loud. The first part was when the dance company is about to board the plane. They are going through security when Sam gets called to a white telephone. She finds it and it turns out to be Sandra, Julie’s mom. She gets Sam to go to the hospital and once she does, she explains what happened.
“Julie went to sleep on the way home from the banquet, and she never really woke up.” The choice of words that Davida used there just blew me away. I just kept thinking that it was so sad that this was happening. I realized after though that since Julie knew she was terminal and she had had her moments and was on good terms with everyone, she knew she could go in peace. The next part was when Sam was saying goodbye to her one and only, when Sandra startled her. She said “She was waiting for you, you know.” Sam wasn’t really sure what Sandra was talking about but that was soon cleared up. “The doctors thought she’d be gone by this morning, but I knew she had to wait.” There was no way Julie was going leave without hearing Sam’s voice one last time say goodbye and I love you. She held on for her one and only so she could let her go.
When ever I watch a show and something sad happens I cry. I cried in New Moon at the beginning when Edward left and I wasn’t surprised when I started to tear up during this book. I don’t cry in public very much when something has happened in my life, because I need to be strong, but when my guard is down when I am reading or watching a show there is nothing to hold back the tears. I’m actually quite surprised with how much I cried at the end of this book. I wasn’t expecting that at all because it was just a book. The fact that my grandma has had cancer three times might have played a part in that. She’s a fighter though. She wasn’t ready to go.
Even though the book ends really sadly and I usually hate something when it makes me cry, (like Ladder 49) this is probably my favorite book, or at least one of them. I also really liked the author. With everything that happens through out the book, you can’t help but love it in spite of the ending.
Imagine there’s no heaven, it’s easy if you try,
No hell below us, above us only sky.
Imagine all the people livin’ for today….
My heart just breaks as I write this and it is hard for me to hold back tears and not think of how I would feel if I was in Sam’s position. The dance company that Sam and Julie dance for is going on tour and they put on a big banquet to kick it off. Julie made sure she was there.
“ Jules found time alone with each dancer in the company, holding a hand out for her to take and listening carefully to her words. Then Jules would speak, and even though I couldn’t hear what she had said, each person came away changed somehow, a little bigger, a little deeper, touched by their moment with her.” (Said by Sam)
I guess when someone has cancer and they are secretly saying their goodbyes, we can tell. We know what is coming next but we try to make it seem like it is something else, something better, something a little less real.
Something that Linda said, their dance teacher, hit me so hard. I thought it was so powerful and heart warming and something that would have make Julie’s leaving a little more easier.
“I just want to say to Julie that we’ll miss you on this tour. You should be going with us, and I hate that you’re not. You are an incredible, inspirational young woman, and I love you very much. We all do. And so we are dedicating our work this next week to you. All of it. We will be dancing for you, even if you won’t get to see it, except in the video. We’re calling it ‘The Juliana Tour.’”
Wow. Julie was crying when Linda said this and so was I. It was just so touching and it was such an emotional moment that I found myself bounded to the characters and unable to turn away from the book, except to grab a tissue.
There were two parts in the next few pages of the book that made me start crying uncontrollably and say “Oh my god” out loud. The first part was when the dance company is about to board the plane. They are going through security when Sam gets called to a white telephone. She finds it and it turns out to be Sandra, Julie’s mom. She gets Sam to go to the hospital and once she does, she explains what happened.
“Julie went to sleep on the way home from the banquet, and she never really woke up.” The choice of words that Davida used there just blew me away. I just kept thinking that it was so sad that this was happening. I realized after though that since Julie knew she was terminal and she had had her moments and was on good terms with everyone, she knew she could go in peace. The next part was when Sam was saying goodbye to her one and only, when Sandra startled her. She said “She was waiting for you, you know.” Sam wasn’t really sure what Sandra was talking about but that was soon cleared up. “The doctors thought she’d be gone by this morning, but I knew she had to wait.” There was no way Julie was going leave without hearing Sam’s voice one last time say goodbye and I love you. She held on for her one and only so she could let her go.
When ever I watch a show and something sad happens I cry. I cried in New Moon at the beginning when Edward left and I wasn’t surprised when I started to tear up during this book. I don’t cry in public very much when something has happened in my life, because I need to be strong, but when my guard is down when I am reading or watching a show there is nothing to hold back the tears. I’m actually quite surprised with how much I cried at the end of this book. I wasn’t expecting that at all because it was just a book. The fact that my grandma has had cancer three times might have played a part in that. She’s a fighter though. She wasn’t ready to go.
Even though the book ends really sadly and I usually hate something when it makes me cry, (like Ladder 49) this is probably my favorite book, or at least one of them. I also really liked the author. With everything that happens through out the book, you can’t help but love it in spite of the ending.
Imagine there’s no heaven, it’s easy if you try,
No hell below us, above us only sky.
Imagine all the people livin’ for today….
The quote you concluded your post with really made me think about the present and what we do every day to live life to it's fullest. It has me thinking.
ReplyDeleteI know you really want me to read this book but I am not sure that I can do it. Although you almost have me convinced, I think it might be a little bit too close to home for me right now.