My Friends They Are So Beautiful

My favorite parts of a book just-might-be the acknowledgement and the dedication. In fact, I read them multiple times. I'm always disappointed if they are absent from a novel.

I can't put my finger on exactly what it is that I love about them. And it is love. I truly deeply madly love them.

Maybe it's meeting the people who inspired the author. Maybe it's reading about how the author's dream became a reality through the dedication and encouragement of those closest to them and those willing to take a risk on them. Maybe it's the realization that an author is never truly alone when writing. Be it a novel, a short story, a fanfic, a flash fiction, a journal entry, or a blog post, when writing a author is surrounded by a host of people -- loved ones, fans, even naysayers.

There is something insanely beautiful and awe-inspiring hidden deep within these dedications and acknowledgements, a sense of rightness, a sense of honesty, a sense of humility.

Maybe I'm just a sentimental fool. Maybe some think I'm reading far too much into a few seemingly meaningless lines. But to me, they are enchanting.

Don't you wish our lives could have an acknowledgement and dedication page? Wouldn't that just be peachy? There's no doubt mine would be filled with sappy blubbering and long rambling sentences. Maybe yours would be a few simple lines or even a list of names. Either way, it would get its point across and be all yours.

In my mind, almost daily, I write an acknowledgement page, reminding myself how I arrived at this exact moment in time and those who have been on this journey with me. I highly recommend it. It brings clarity to life, a sense of rightness, a sense of honesty, a sense of humility.

You don't need to be rich and famous to write one. I know, because I'm nowhere close to being famous and even further from being rich. And maybe, just maybe, that's why they appeal to me, because the people in my life only see potential. They don't really know if I'll ever be a successful writer, but they sure do believe in me. They continue to encourage me-- lifting me up when I'm down, treating my dreams as if they were precious to them, making me feel like I've already succeeded. And that, my friends, leaves me speechless.