Have I ever blogged about the word "always"? I don't think I have. If I have, go ahead and just disregard this post, another one will be along eventually.
I think my favorite thing about the word "always" is its ironic stretchiness. It's such a relative word. If you say "I've always loved cantaloupe," you mean you've loved it for the duration of your memory; so for people in my age range, that's probably around 16-17 years. When people say, "That's the way things have always been," they could be referring to as long as a country has been legally recognized, as long as a law has been in effect, as long as they've been married, as long as human records have been kept, as long as their family has been in America. By its very nature, it is quite a stretchy word.
It also shows up in two of my favorite book series, in two very different fashions. In Harry Potter, we have the oh-so-well-known exchange between Dumbledore and Snape: "After all this time?" "Always." Snape's ordeal with Lily (despite a considerable amount of it being his fault) was such that I can understand his inability to get over her; it's hard to have closure with someone who died. That one word had such a huge effect on the fandom; people are getting as many "Always" tattoos as they are Deathly Hallows tattoos (okay maybe not but there are still lots!). It's kind of because of that that I'm not sure I'll get an Always one. I'd like to, but a) everyone has one and b) I haven't found a design I really like. I also think it's like "lol, tattooz r 4evr hurr hurr" in addition to being cool. It would probably be hidden, and I know it would be unique because I have my own reasons for liking the word, but...I dunno. ANYWAY.
When Snape says "Always" he's talking both about the past and the future. He has resigned himself to the state of loving Lily. He sees it both in terms of he has always loved her and he always will. His situation has become static and constant; it's unchanging for him, without beginning and without end. "Static" has a more negative connotation that I intended...I guess I mean it in more of a nirvana-like setting (though considerably sadder in this instance), where it's just a state of being without definition and without temporal boundaries.
It also appears in The Hunger Games. When Katniss is falling into a drug-induced sleep, she grabs Peeta's hand and says, "Stay with me," and he responds, "Always." In addition to being stretchy, it's also a heavy word. The one word is all he needs to say for us to understand the absoluteness of his devotion (a word, by the way, that I don't particularly care for). Here it's heavy, it's simple, it's absolute, it's solid. Yes, I will always be here, whether you are asleep or awake, whether you admit to loving me or don't, whether you live or die. All of it bundled up into one word that says everything all at once.
It's such a cool word. It's stretchy, constant, fluid, solid, heavy, simple, complex, relative, subjective, poignant, terrifying and comforting. It's a word to be embraced and approached with caution. It falls like water and lands like lead. It is the loudest word you'll ever whisper. People use it to express absolutes that can't be absolute. Whenever I hear "I will always love you" (whether it's said to me or someone else), I always shrink back and think, "Don't let your mouth write checks your heart can't cash. Always is a very, very long time."
So yes. I would like it on my body. But I'm not fully sure where. And I don't want just another "Always" in tattoo-esque curly, swoopy writing that screams "I got a tattoo because I thought it would make Edward/Jacob love me." I want to love how it looks. Maybe I should just get it in typewriter script. Because books--not just books, but the ideas found in books--can last forever. And my love of the word comes from books. Wow, that's actually not a bad idea. Hm. But I should love how it looks. Because it will always be on me. And always is a long time.
Such a very long time.
Well I'll look at you and say it's the happiest that I've ever been / And I'll say I no longer feel I have to be James Dean / And she'll say Yeah well I feel all pretty happy too / And I'm always pretty happy when I'm just kicking back with you. -5 Years Time, Noah and the Whale
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