One night, during the spring of my senior year of college, a group of friends and I laid out on an empty field to look at the stars. Among that group, was my friend Alec, who would die a few weeks later.
When Alec was three, he was diagnosed with an inoperable brain aneurysm. No one could predict when the aneurysm would burst. They just knew that when it did, he would die.
That night, staring up at the stars, Alec told us that there was nothing he would change about that moment. He had a time bomb in his head. He was grieving the death of his mother from cancer. He was in danger of not being able to return for his last year of college. And he was madly in love with a girl who loved someone else.
But Alec still appreciated that moment in its entirety. Because he wasn’t willing to waste the time he had waiting for life to get better. He found joy where he was.
It was Alec who inspired Luke Harrison’s unusual condition, his love for the guitar and his devotion to his friends. But Alec gave me so much more than just fuel for a character for Life and Other Complications. He gifted me with his friendship, convinced me to take a chance on love, and taught me that when life turns dark, I have a choice. I can wait in misery for the sunrise, or I can choose to marvel at the stars.
Here’s to star gazing.