Knotted Roots

Knotted Roots - By Ruthi Kight




DEDICATION



I dedicate this book to the two people who have known me the longest: my parents. Dad, you will never know just how much your support means to me. You have lifted me up and made me believe in myself once again. Thank you for all that you have done. Mom, I know you are up in heaven smiling down on me. I miss you every waking moment and I wish that you were by my side right now as my dreams come true. You two are the best parents that a person could ask for. Thank you for always having faith in me, even when I lost faith in myself.





PROLOGUE



Decisions. A part of our lives that we inevitably have to deal with. When we’re kids, our decisions seem simple, until we look back at them later. We wonder what would have happened if we had chosen a different best friend, or a different lunch box, or a different infatuation. As we get older, the decisions become more complex, and the results become more skewed. It’s no wonder that most of us have a hard time sticking to a decision.

My biggest problem at the end of my junior year of high school was which boy I wanted to be seen with in the Hamptons (Carter Raine, of course). Or which designer I wanted to design my summer wardrobe (Michael Kors, no doubt). I had everything planned out, including how each small detail would impact the next. I was a planner. Life needed a plan, sometimes down to the minute.

Imagine my surprise when my whole plan got thrown out the window. My summer plan, my life’s plan, hell, my Monday plan, all of it was trashed in the blink of an eye. My parents made a huge decision for me that day. When it happened, I was pissed. Forget that, I was beyond pissed! I wanted to revolt against them and sneak away to my best friend’s house. I planned to lock myself in her room until they changed their minds. I was prepared.

What I wasn’t prepared for was how life down South could irrevocably change me. I won’t tell you where I ended up, but I will tell you how I got there: I let go of my plans. I stopped living by a calendar and just started living. See, there’s this great thing called spontaneity that I lost somewhere along the way. What I found last summer changed my life, in more ways than one.