But when he looked at her – and she looked at him – they both knew that there was something worse than kissing the wrong person. It was wanting to.
You’re not alone, and you’re not the one in charge,” Mother said gently. “Ask for help when you need it, and give help when you can. I think that is how we serve God – and each other and ourselves – in times as dark as these.
Tante Isabelle says it’s better to be bold than meek. She says if you jump off a cliff at least you’ll fly before you fall.
In love we find out who we want to be, in war we find out who we are.
Books are the mile markers of my life. Some people have family photos or home movies to record their past. I’ve got books. Characters. For as long as I can remember, books have been my safe place.
You are my sunlight in the dark and the ground beneath my feet.
It is not biology that determines fatherhood. It is love.
I had forgotten how gently time passes in Paris. As lively as the city is, there’s a stillness to it, a peace that lures you in. In Paris, with a glass of wine in your hand, you can just be.
She wanted to bottle how safe she felt in this moment, so she could drink of it later when loneliness and fear left her parched.
I belong to a generation that didn’t expect to be protected from every danger. We knew the risks and took them anyway.
She was so tired of being strong.
She has a steel exterior, but it protects a candyfloss heart.
A girl’s love for her father. Immutable. Unbearable but unbreakable.
You know what they say about finding a man in Alaska – the odds are good, but the goods are odd.
A girl was like a kite; without her mother’s strong, steady hold on the string, she might just float away, be lost somewhere among the clouds.
They would always be a family, but if she’d learned anything in the past few weeks it was that a family wasn’t a static thing. There were always changes going on. Like with continents, sometimes the changes were invisible and underground, and sometimes they were explosive and deadly. The trick was to keep your balance. You couldn’t control the direction of your family any more than you could stop the continental shelf from breaking apart. All you could do was hold on for the ride.
If I have learned anything in this long life of mine, it is this: In love we find out who we want to be; in war we find out who we are. Today’s young people want to know everything about everyone. They think talking about a problem will solve it. I come from a quieter generation. We understand the value of forgetting, the lure of reinvention.
Love and fear. The most destructive forces on earth. Fear had turned her inside out, love had made her stupid.
If there’s one thing I never do, it’s stop.
With all the risks they were taking, love was probably the most dangerous choice of all.