Page 96 of My Promise To Keep

‘Take a look at this.’ She dumps a book on the table in front of me.

‘What the…’

‘Your birthday book. You wrote in it on your birthday every year until you were seventeen. You were supposed to do it until eighteen, but you went and got yourself hitched, and coming to see your old Grandma wasn’t a priority that year.’

‘Grandma.’

‘I’m over it, Zoe, but I’m done letting you waste your life.’ I snap my gaze up to hers. ‘You made Luke a promise, but you haven’t been living — you’ve been existing. There’s a difference. Now look at the damn book and tell me again that you have everything you ever dreamed of.’

She grabs her plate, throws three pancakes onto it, and, snatching the bottle of syrup, stomps out to the porch.

I stare in her direction for a minute, shocked, before turning my attention to the book in my hand.

We all have one of these: Doug, Bree, and I. Grandma loved getting them out each year to fill them in.

I open the book.

Name: Zoe Addison Campbell. I read the words written in Grandma’s handwriting.

Age: 1.

I look down at the tiny little handprint and smile, but I know I’m not going to find what she wants me to find at age one.

I flip a few pages forward.

Age: 5.

What do you want to be when you grow up: Esplora.

Esplora? What the heck is that? She really should have continued filling it in for us. I turn the page.

Age: 6.

What do you want to be when you grow up: An explora.

Esplora… explora… explorer. I smile down at the page and run my thumb over my handwriting.

Age: 10.

What do you want to be when you grow up: I want to travel the whole world!

I swallow hard.

Age: 12.

What do you want to be when you grow up: I want to see the world and discover new places that nobody ever went to before.

I remember writing this. I’d forgotten all about the birthday book, but now, I remember.

Age: 14.

What do you want to be when you grow up: I don’t know what I want to do for a job, but I want to travel.

Age: 15.

What do you want to be when you grow up: When I graduate high school, I’m going to travel to California, stopping at all the places I want to see, then I’ll travel the world from there. I don’t know what I’ll do for a job, but I’ll see the whole world.

Age: 16.

---