The Last Song

I just finished reading this book and let me just say that I wasn't sure I was going to like it. In the beginning of the book I really thought about putting it down and not finishing it, but I'm glad that I didn't. It took me getting over half way through it before it sucked me in, but when it did I couldn't put it down.

For those that don't know about the book here is the Barnes & Noble synopsis:

#1 bestselling author Nicholas Sparks's new novel is at once a compelling family drama and a heartrending tale of young love.


Seventeen year old Veronica "Ronnie" Miller's life was turned upside-down when her parents divorced and her father moved from New York City to Wilmington, North Carolina. Three years later, she remains angry and alienated from her parents, especially her father...until her mother decides it would be in everyone's best interest if she spent the summer in Wilmington with him. Ronnie's father, a former concert pianist and teacher, is living a quiet life in the beach town, immersed in creating a work of art that will become the centerpiece of a local church.


The tale that unfolds is an unforgettable story of love on many levels--first love, love between parents and children -- that demonstrates, as only a Nicholas Sparks novel can, the many ways that love can break our hearts...and heal them.

**For those that don't want a spoiler, STOP READING HERE!**

What really pulled me into the book was when you figure out that Ronnie's father is dying. She spent three years of her life not talking to him and then was forced to spend a summer with him. She started the summer angry at him, grew to appreciate him and then by the end loving him again and wishing she could take back the three years lost. Although I have never spent three years not talking to my dad, I related to the father daughter bond and the pain of realizing your parents aren't invincible and won't be around forever.

Last year after my dad's back surgery was the first time I realized that my daddy wouldn't be around forever to always fix the things I needed him to. Saying "Daddy fix it" wasn't always going to be something I would be able to say. This realization hit me incredibly hard! My daddy (I say daddy because he lives up to that title in every way) has always taken care of me. He was the dad that a lot of my friends envied. He was always the one to start my car in the mornings if it was cold outside so I wouldn't have to warm it up myself, check everything on my car to make sure things were running smoothly, check roads for me during bad weather so I would know even before getting up in the morning whether it was safe for me to drive to work or even little things like midnight runs to walmart if I was sick. He's always gone above and beyond for me.

So when reality hit me that my daddy wasn't always going to be the daddy I had grown up knowing and loving, it broke my heart. To realize he wasn't always going to be able to do the things I had grown accustomed to him doing literally killed me. Not because I was too lazy and didn't/ couldn't do these things for myself, but because knowing that he couldn't do them I knew would kill him. He's a man that prides himself on being able to take care of his family and never leaving us wanting or needing something. Watching him grow older and slowly have things like changing my oil on my car be taken away from him, is a painful thing to watch. I know it sounds stupid but you can truly see the pain in his eyes when he can't do these things.

Thus the reason I started having him teach me to do them myself. Although it's still hard to watch him when I know he's upset that he can't do these things for me, there's also a different look when he's teaching me. I know my father would rather be the one to change my oil and fix my car, but I think he also enjoys watching and teaching me to do it on my own. I cherish these moments and dread the day when he's no longer there to teach me.