Finding Purpose

Lily let out a frustrated sigh as she ended the phone call. She took note of the ragged, peeling edges of her fingernails, destroyed by her current stress level. Scott Frances, her husband’s attorney, had smugly issued the proposition that would determine her fate. To remain happily, albeit aggravatingly wed, Lily had 48 hours and $20,000 to find her purpose.

Lily Kingston met Stephen her freshman year at Briggs University. His frantic notetaking and constant curiosity had immediately caught her eye. She felt almost obligated to socialize him, but it was Stephen who ended up introducing Lily to the adventures of the world. They spent the next four years overloading their respective class schedules with obscure courses and activities, anything they could find that could teach them more about life. It became Lily’s favorite joke; if she were being asked her major, her answer was always, “living.”

It came as no surprise that Stephen would come up with some extravagant plan for their fifth wedding anniversary, but Lily had really been hoping for something a little more romantic than a divorce. He had always challenged her, creating an intricate escape room to complete before he accepted her proposal, and a Fear Factor style vacation in Puerto Rico before suggesting they move there for business. For all Lily could recall, they had agreed no gifts for this occasion. Although, she guessed an impossible ultimatum couldn’t really be considered a gift. If she were being honest, sometimes being married to this brilliant mastermind could really be a curse.

As she read over the stipulations Mr. Frances had forwarded her, Lily wondered if any loophole could allow her to just take the money and move back to the US. But no matter how frustrated Stephen made her, he was still the love of her life. She couldn’t give that up for $20,000. She couldn’t give that up for any amount. She couldn’t put a price on their love. After all, Lily had uprooted her entire life to go on these adventures with Stephen. He provided such companionship and happiness, and yes, these crazy escapades, and she loved every bit of it.

Lily grabbed her keys and headed to the store. She had absolute chaos in her mind and had to do some organizing to make any sense of it at all. She wandered the aisles for inspiration, but her heart kept bringing her back to that very first notebook Stephen had been using when they first met. It, and its predecessors, had remained with him all of this time. He was constantly jotting down ideas, lyrics, jokes, sketches, and anything that popped into his mind. While it appeared as scrambled jargon to the naked eye, to Stephen, it was his raw heart and soul on paper. This also meant that going from one notebook to the next was just a continuation of his passion. Through their many moves, Stephen had always insisted on keeping every single one. Maddening as it may have been, Lily understood.

Lily did, in fact, understand. She found the office aisle and filled her cart with the little black books that already seemed to overtake their bookshelves, and practically ran to the checkout. She knew how to win this challenge. She didn’t even need the money, except to cover the price of the notebooks and a pretty pen or two. Lily was going to be doing a lot of writing over the next two days, separating and organizing and planning the rest of their lives together based on the notes her loving husband had taken throughout their journeys. His genius had always presented as rambling, but Lily was able to decipher. She typed up a quick text to Stephen and smiled as she pressed send.

“Pack your bags, Mr. Moleskine. We’re living.”