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21 " Time constricts and flattens, you know. It's not evenly weighted. Certain moments linger in the mind and others disappear. "
― Christina Baker Kline , Orphan Train
22 " So is it just human nature to believe that things happen for a reason - to find some shred of meaning even in the worst experiences? "
23 " And so it is that you learn how to pass, if you're lucky, to look like everyone else, even though you're broken inside. "
24 " Do you believe in spirits? Or ghosts?...Yes, I do. I believe in ghosts....They're the ones who haunt us. The ones who have left us behind.""Vivian has come back to the idea that the people who matter in our lives stay with us, haunting our ordinary moments. They're with us in the grocery store, as we turn the corner, chat with a friend. They rise up through the pavement; we absorb them through our soles.""The things that matter stay with you, seep into your skin. "
25 " people who matter in our lives stay with us, haunting our most ordinary moments. They’re with us in the grocery store, as we turn a corner, chat with a friend. They rise up through the pavement; we absorb them through our soles. "
26 " My entire life has felt like chance. Random moments of loss and connection. This is the first one that feels, instead, like fate. "
27 " She knows too well what it's like to tamp down your natural inclinations, to force a smile when you feel numb. [...] The expression of emotion does not come naturally, so you learn to fake it. To pretend. To display an empathy you don't really feel. And so it is that you learn to pass, if you're lucky, to look like everyone else, even though you're broken inside. "
28 " It is good to test your limits now and then, learn what the body is capable of, what you can endure. "
29 " You got to learn to take what people are willing to give. "
30 " you are only as interesting as you are useful to someone "
31 " I am not glad she is dead, but I am not sorry she is gone. "
32 " I love you," he writes again and again. "I can't bear to live without you. I'm counting the minutes until I see you." The words he uses are the idioms of popular songs and poems in the newspaper. And mine to him are no less cliched. I puzzle over the onionskin, trying to spill my heart onto the page. But I can only come up with the same words, in the same order, and hope the depth of feeling beneath them gives them weight and substance. I love you. I miss you. Be careful. Be safe. "
33 " Turtles carry their homes on their backs.” Running her finger over the tattoo, she tells him what her dad told her: “They’re exposed and hidden at the same time. They’re a symbol of strength and perseverance. "
34 " Upright and do right make all right. "
35 " You can't find peace until you fin fall the pieces. "
36 " And so your personality is shaped. You know too much, and this knowledge makes you wary. You grow fearful and mistrustful. The expression of emotion does not come naturally, so you learn to fake it. To pretend. To display an empathy you don’t actually feel. And so it is that you learn how to pass, if you’re lucky, to look like everyone else, even though you’re broken inside. "
37 " you can’t find peace until you find all the pieces. She wants to help Vivian find some kind of peace, elusive and fleeting as it may be. "
38 " So is it just human nature to believe that things happen for a reason — to find some shred of meaning even in the worst experiences?" Molly asks when Vivian reads some of these stories aloud."It certainly helps," Vivian says. "
39 " easier to assume that people have it out for you than to be disappointed when they don’t come through. "
40 " As with Dutchy and Carmine on the train, this little cluster of women has become a kind of family to me. Like an abandoned foal that nestles against cows in the barnyard, maybe I just need to feel the warmth of belonging. And if I'm not going to find that with the Byrnes, I will find it, however partial and illusory, with the women in the sewing room. "