8of21 Danielle Fitzgerald

Danielle Fitzgerald
Age 7: "Tap lessons start this week! I'm so excited! And nervous - what if I'm not any good?"
Age 8: "1 ... 2 ... 3 ... 4! 4 seconds between thunder claps! The storm is getting closer! I hope it's a hurricane. We could stay huddled up in the basement under blankets with candles burning all night! It would be so cool..."
Age 9: "Math sucks. I quit."
Age 10: "I heard a tornado touched down near Durham - that's pretty close! I wish I could have seen it!"
Age 11: "Why do they have to tease me for squinting? It's not my fault I can't see the board!"
Age 12: "I'll never get married. I'll die alone. I'll probably never even get kissed. Who would want to kiss me? Look at me."
Age 12: "I wonder if Mom will let me have a sick day today? I can't bear facing that class again. Not after JP tripped me in the hall and called me Rat Face. Everyone laughed - I'm so embarrassed."
Age 13: "Don't get your hopes up, Danielle... this school hates you, they'll never choose you for the award..."
Age 13: "I can't believe I won! Mom and Dad will be so proud - all three daughters with their names on the plaque for Literary Excellence!"
Age 13: "There isn't a single person in that class who takes me seriously - but I'll show them! I'm going to be a published author one day, they'll see my name in print!"
Age 14: "I've never been more certain of anything in my life - everything has been leading up to this moment, when I would meet him - David Cameron. It feels so cosmic and right."
Age 14: "This is it - he's going to kiss me! I've never been kissed before - except on a dare, but that doesn't count."
Age 15: "My mouth is so sore and I look like a train wreck. Braces suck."
Age 16: "Leaving... he can't leave... it's not supposed to happen this way... I can't accept this..."
Age 16: "I feel so empty... when will this feeling go away? I feel like I'm going to miss him forever."
Age 17: "When the news came on, it was like the earth stopped spinning. Everything feels hollow and dim. What does this mean for the future? For our world?"
Age 17: "They want to publish me? They want to publish me?! There must be some mistake... this is too good to be true."
Age 18: "Graduation, why bother with that? I have a book launch to attend!"
Age 19: "It answers every question I've ever had about life, and meaning... It's like everything I always believed in but could never express. I have to learn more!"
Age 21: "Why is everyone so mad? All I said was I didn't want to go to mass with them. I know it's Christmas - but if I don't believe in it, what does it matter?"
Age 24: "How can I be pregnant? We only hooked up a couple of times..."
Age 25: "It just seems so futile. This brief little life just snuffed out before it even gets a chance. Is that what life is?"
Age 25: "Rest in peace, Uncle Liam. I'm so sorry I didn't spend more time with you, I'm so sorry I didn't know you the way that I should have."
Age 26: "It's finally done; my second novel! I lost so much time, but here it is, finally birthed into creation through years of hard work. I don't even care if it sells. This one was for me."
Age 26: "David Cameron! I never thought I would see him again! But then, something about him... I always knew he was meant to be in my life."
Age 29: "I have his ring on my finger - I can't believe I have his ring on my finger! I can't believe it - we're getting married!"
Age 30: "My ancestors buried here, right beneath our feet. Generations of Fitzgeralds buried right in this church yard! This was the best idea for a honeymoon ever."
Age 31: "The test came back positive - I can't wait to tell David I'm having his baby!"
Age 34: "The Cancun sky is as blue as my baby's eyes. Life is such a dream."
Age 40: "The older I get, the more uncertain I am of it all. I sometimes wish I didn't love everyone so much. It makes the thought of losing them so much harder. How do other people handle this?"
Age 40: "Our ten year anniversary, and I love him more than ever. David - you turned my world around and made everything shine. I hope you know just how deep I feel you in my soul... there is no life without you."
Age 44: "I knew eventually I would be sitting in that little room, and the doctor would come in with that dead expression of finality on his face, and I would face it with that hollow, dull feeling in my chest. What I didn't expect, was that through all that... there might still be hope."