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Jan 23, 2015

Tuck Everlasting 40th: What If You Could Live Forever

Tuck Everlasting was a book I missed out on reading until I was teaching fourth grade a few years after college.  I adored the book and had several amazing conversations with my students.  Almost without fail they would tell you they would drink from the spring.  I guess when you are 10 and 11 forever doesn't seem like anything at all.  Back then I knew I wouldn't want to drink from the spring, but I thought about it longer.

Then I became a parent.

I would never want to outlive my children.  Never.  And there is a part of me that thinks I wouldn't want them to drink from the spring either.  I have loved growing and maturing and getting older and I want that for my children.  I want them to experience the full circle of life, because I have loved most every stage of my life.

The things that the Tucks had to do to avoid suspicion, like separating for years at a time, makes me sad.  But then again, living together for eternity probably wouldn't be good either--can you imagine how on each others' nerves you'd be?

Now that I am older and have lived, I truly cannot see an upside to living forever.

What about you?  If you had the chance, would you want to live forever?  Would you drink from the spring?

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