I didn’t expect a book to make me question my own relationship this much
I started reading Strangers from Belle Burden because I like messy relationship and family dynamic stories and somehow ended up thinking about my own relationship way more than I planned to.
Something about the idea of spending years with someone and still not fully knowing who they’d become under pressure or during conflict stuck with me way more than I expected. It brought up conversations between me and my partner that we’d avoided for a while around money long term security and how much people can change over time. I used to think topics like that meant something was wrong in the relationship or that people were secretly expecting things to fail but now I’m not so sure anymore. I think sometimes being realistic about life and people changing is different from being pessimistic.
Still feels emotionally weird though because nobody grows up dreaming about having practical conversations alongside romantic ones. Part of me misses when love felt simpler before real life started attaching practical decisions to it.