Let’s … | Teen Ink

Let’s … MAG

December 20, 2011
By RedheadAtHeart ELITE, Mountain Home, Idaho
RedheadAtHeart ELITE, Mountain Home, Idaho
109 articles 0 photos 164 comments

Favorite Quote:
Love with open hands. - Madeleine L'Engle


“Let's do something together,” you say.
“Like what?” I ask.

“Well,” you say, “let's sit and talk on the stone steps after church and laugh about everything and nothing at all. Let's have it be a pure accident. Opportune circumstances. And let's have it be beautiful.

“Let's get up regretfully and bid each other good-bye, with promises to talk again next week. Let's gaze wistfully after each other as we depart.

“Let's make it a habit throughout the summer to talk and laugh on the stone steps after church. Let's look forward to our weekly banter, and let's wonder what the other is thinking as we anticipate seeing each other again.

“Let's be sitting and talking together one Sunday, and let's both be slightly disappointed when I mention that I'm going to my cousin's wedding in Green Bay, and after that I'm spending two weeks in northern Minnesota at camp. Let's say we'll miss each other.

“Let's have a joyful reunion when I return and a long, heartfelt discussion on the church steps. Let's say honestly that we missed each other.

“Let's go slowly into the new school year, always remembering to have our hour on the church steps together. Let's sit out there even on the worst snowy days.

“Let's let time go by, a year or two, and in all that time let's not let our friendship fade. Even as you go to college and I go who-knows-where, let's remain friends.

“Let's keep in touch. Let's one day – even though I have a job by then – get together and hang out, maybe sitting on the stone steps of a church somewhere else. And let's talk for a while, but after another while, let's realize that neither of us feels like talking. So let's sit in silence.

“Then let's kiss. Let's make it beautiful and heartfelt and true. And let's know that we're in love.

“Let's be happy, secure in the knowledge that we were made for each other. Let's let time and life bring everything they've got, while we weather the storm together.

“Let's date. Let's be happy and funny and enjoy each other. Let's walk along beaches and city sidewalks and country roads holding hands. Let's laugh and tease and steal kisses and smile wide when we see each other. Let's be in love.

“Let's be together, some summer night, sitting perhaps on some stone steps, though maybe not of a church. Let's be sitting there, silent like we sometimes are, and then let's both know something special is about to happen.

“‘Let's get married,” I'll say. You'll agree. So let's.

“Let's get married in the church where we met, surrounded by everyone we love. Let's stand in front of the church and forget about everyone else while we promise our lives to each other.

“Let's live in a tiny cottage on the coast of northern Maine. Let's be young and happy and carefree. Let's just live, working a little and playing a lot, like young people tend to do.

“Let's have a crowd of beautiful children. Let's read to them and sing to them and teach them to be good people. Let's sneak into their rooms when they're asleep and marvel at how miraculous they are.

“Let's watch them grow up, survive their adolescence and our midlife crises, and come out the other side wishing they hadn't grown up so fast. Let's quietly live alone again in our northern Maine cottage, just us two, like it was before.

“Now,” you say, “let's come back to now. Let's hold hands. Let's pray that God and your cancer won't take you away from me too soon.”

“Even if they do,” I say, “you know where to find me.”

You smile. “Where?” you ask.

“Right with you,” I say. “Where I've always been.”

Your smile fades. “But you won't be,” you say sadly.

“Says who?” I ask, struggling to sit up in my hospital bed. “You once said, ‘Let's do life together.' So we are. Even if I'm not there the whole way, we are doing it together.”

You smile through tears that cloud your eyes. “Let's,” you say.



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This article has 94 comments.


irishlass317 said...
on Jul. 27 2012 at 3:25 pm
irishlass317, Jefferson City, Missouri
0 articles 0 photos 134 comments

Favorite Quote:
"I asked Jesus 'How much do you love me?' He answered 'This much.' And He streched out His arms and died."

This is soooo amazing!!!!! It took my breath away! It is soooo amazing! :-)

on Jul. 25 2012 at 10:26 am
forgottenpenname GOLD, Troy, Michigan
12 articles 0 photos 147 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Carpe diem."

The ending left tears in my eyes -- it's all so beautiful and perfect. Lovely piece. :)

on Jul. 25 2012 at 9:59 am
lzcelloplayer BRONZE, Wayland, Massachusetts
2 articles 0 photos 31 comments

Favorite Quote:
"It seems that we all look at Nature too much, and live with her too little." ~ Oscar Wilde

I really enjoyed reading that piece. It was so cute and beautiful. Keep up the good work! :D

on Jul. 20 2012 at 9:38 pm
PhoenixCrossing GOLD, Tinley Park, Illinois
14 articles 0 photos 178 comments
BEAUTIFUL! Nothing else can explain it. Please continue to write :)

on Jul. 18 2012 at 4:15 pm
CelestaCuffrig GOLD, Loveland, Colorado
11 articles 1 photo 19 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Inspiration is only as enlightening as you are open to it."

 I love your whimsical writing style (: You wrote a splendid piece here and I'm glad I stumbled upon it! I was wondering what the ending would spin into and I was surprise with the amazing depiction of emotion. Check out my work, pretty please? KEEP IT UP.

on Jul. 17 2012 at 4:03 am
HeatherOlivia GOLD, Solothurn, Other
16 articles 0 photos 86 comments

Favorite Quote:
"All things truly wicked start from innocence." - Ernest Hemingway

This is so beautiful, and it had such a sad ending, but honest and realistic. It was amazingly well written. Wow!

on Jul. 13 2012 at 1:25 am
Songs_Along GOLD, Abcd, Other
16 articles 0 photos 65 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Sometimes we are only given a few minutes to be with the one we love and a thousand hours to spend just thinking about them."

totally splendid....i especially loved the ending...the flow of ur writing is too good...wow... :)

on Jul. 11 2012 at 11:27 am
sweetangel4life GOLD, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
19 articles 0 photos 85 comments

Favorite Quote:
"What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet". Romeo and Juliet ( Quote Act II, Sc. II).

"Let them eat cake."
Marie Antoinette

I saw this article in the mag a cuple weeks ago at my local library. i loveddddd it! keep writing, and hopefully ill learn someting from you.

on Jul. 9 2012 at 9:05 pm
Wanderlust. SILVER, Burke, Virginia
5 articles 0 photos 14 comments
Absolutely Lovely :)

austenite GOLD said...
on Jul. 9 2012 at 7:30 pm
austenite GOLD, River Falls, Wisconsin
13 articles 0 photos 177 comments

Favorite Quote:
...one word from you will silence me forever. If, however, your feelings have changed, I will have to tell you: you have bewitched me, body and soul, and I love....I love...I love you. I never wish to be parted from you from this day on. -Mr. Darcy

I am so impressed by this piece.  I've read a few of your other pieces - I just wanted to say that you are a wonderful writer, and that I enjoy your work! Thanks for writing!

on Jul. 9 2012 at 6:18 am
LongLazyDays55 BRONZE, Other, Other
3 articles 0 photos 94 comments

Favorite Quote:
I haven't failed. I just haven't found 10,000 ways that won't work. [Thomas Edison]

When words fail, music speaks.

Wow. Such a moving piece. The last few lines when you realise they have cancer was really moving. Congratulations on getting into the magazine! KEEP WRITING! :) :)

vivi98 said...
on Jul. 9 2012 at 12:37 am

wow(: you're so lucky to be able to write like this. i got teary eyed hehe (':

i think you just inspired me. i shall go write now hehe


AustinMags said...
on Jul. 8 2012 at 11:53 pm
This was utterly beautiful! Thank you... thank you for sharing this. <3

on Jul. 6 2012 at 8:06 pm
Shining.With.Crystal.Clarity SILVER, Bristol, Virginia
6 articles 0 photos 28 comments

Favorite Quote:
"The Doctor talks to himself sometimes, because he's the only one who knows what he's talking about!"
~Sarah Jane Smith


"Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen..."
~Hebrews 11:1

"Aim small, miss small."

This has to be THE most beautiful piece I've ever read on this site. And for once, I agree with all the sentiments expressed! It's really a great piece of writing. Good job, and PLEASE keep writing!

I hope you know how talented you are!


on Jul. 4 2012 at 2:28 am
j.Jaishri.a SILVER, St. Paul, Minnesota
8 articles 0 photos 17 comments

Favorite Quote:
Never Surrender.

Great job on your piece. Brought a lot of emotions forward. Keep up the good work!

on Jul. 3 2012 at 6:33 pm
outrageousalex SILVER, Newnan, Georgia
6 articles 10 photos 8 comments

Favorite Quote:
Art is the only way to run away without leaving home.






























-Twyla Tharp

Wow. That is amazing!

bluhs said...
on Jul. 2 2012 at 4:38 pm
bluhs, E, Alabama
0 articles 0 photos 111 comments
That was a BEAUTIFUL piece!

on Jul. 2 2012 at 10:09 am
powder_blue SILVER, Edgerton, Maryland
8 articles 0 photos 5 comments

Favorite Quote:
Girls are like apples on trees. The best ones are at the top of the tree. The boys don't want to reach for the good ones because they're afraid that they are afraid of falling and getting hurt. Instead, they just get the rotten apples from the ground that aren't as good, but easy. So the apples at the top think that something is wrong with them, when in reality, they're amazing. They just have to wait for the right boy to come along, the one who's brave enough to climb all the way to the top of the tree.

this is beautiful, something to be proud of. i love your work. 

Darcy M. said...
on Jul. 2 2012 at 2:50 am
Absolutely incredible. Thank-you

on Jul. 1 2012 at 7:23 pm
blueandorange GOLD, Jeffersonville, Indiana
14 articles 0 photos 63 comments
This was so beautiful!  I loved it!