The Hunger Games

For the first time in a while I have jumped on the bandwagon and just finished reading The Hunger Games Trilogy. I'm sure many of you out there who read it can understand my obsession with the books. I absolutely loved them. I'm a slow reader and finished all three in just over a week.
I saw the movie this weekend with my husband and thought it was okay. It did the book justice in some respects but really there is nothing like reading the book itself.

What I loved most about the books is that it wasn't until book three that I realized how attached I was to the characters. Yes, it is a story about war but it is a story about resilience and love and the human condition.

Warning: SPOILERS ahead.

 I found myself seeing the similarities of my relationship with my husband in comparison to Peeta and Katniss. From the beginning I wasn't completely sold on Peeta and it wasn't until we lost him a bit in the third book that I realized how much I had grown attached to him as a character. Watching Katniss fall in love with him over the series was so heartwarming because it wasn't based on lust or simply feelings.

I remember when I first met Chris I thought that there would be no way we would ever be anything but friends. I honestly didn't even think I would ever get married. I felt jaded and cynical and in many ways thought I was too broken. I had closed myself off to the idea of falling in love. Then Chris came along and pursued me and fought for me in ways that no one ever has... and if I'm completely honest it confused me at first. It was difficult to see what true commitment and genuine love meant. How that can be manifested in an authentic relationship.

Over the course of The Hunger Games we watch Katniss fall in love with the boy that fought for her in the most sacrificial ways. He risked his life. He gave her hope when she really had none. He loved her even when she did not love him back.

Katniss saw herself as "Violent. Distrustful. Manipulative. Deadly." Peeta loved her for the parts of herself that she could not see. He saw her worth. While she was doing everything she could to fight for her family... for her friends... for her district. Peeta was fighting for her.

Falling in love with Chris was a slow process for me. He wasn't the typical guy I had dated. It wasn't based on fleeting feelings or the ability to fill the voids in my life that had grown over the years. It was based on the fact that this man brought hope into my life. A security that no matter what happens... he would be there by my side. He saw in me what I could not see in myself.

So when I read the last lines in the book...

“So after, when he whispers, " You love me. Real or not real?" 
I tell him, "Real.” 

I can't help but think, how lucky I am to have a man in my life who never gave up on me. A man with a selflessness like no other and such a capacity to love. A man who was able to see past my broken, jaded heart into the person I could be. 


And I am so thankful that he patiently gave me time to realize just how real my love for him was.