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21 " Worrying is wishing for what you don’t want. Man plans and God laughs. "
― Rebecca Serle , The Dinner List
22 " I thought it meant he saw truth in things that were frivolous, and frivolity in things that were fundamental. "
23 " She breaks off, and I am reminded, of course, of her mother. Of the cancer that came to claim her. Of the absence of her. At Jessica’s graduation. Wedding. The birth of her child. What wouldn’t she do to have one dinner with her? To get one night to tell her everything that happened and all the ways it was unfair? To sit in her presence and touch and gaze and mourn? "
24 " The staccato sentences come one after the other. They seem to hit me straight in the chest like skipping stones. Not for what they lost, so long ago. But for the history I’ve been missing. The key passage torn out of the book. "
25 " That's the thing about life -- these moments that define us emerge out of nothing. A missed call. A trip down the stairs. A car accident. They happen in a moment, a breath. "
26 " It never occurred to me that fate might not be forever. "
27 " We're so close to the previous minute; how hard would it be to just turn back the clock? To just quickly undo what has just been done? "
28 " The thing that I regret is that I didn’t realize what I did have. I lost sight of you. I was so busy mourning one thing, I forgot about the other. "
29 " she’s so immersed in her life she never thinks about what it’s like to be in mine. "
30 " Happiness has a way of quickening. Grief marks things. Joy lets them through. Days and months can pass in a blink of an eye. "
31 " Happiness is not constantly needing things to be at their full potential...My happiness is accepting that ninety-five percent of the time of my life is deeply imperfect. "
32 " When someone leaves, remembering the joy is far more painful than thinking about the misery. "
33 " The person who believes they love more believes they give more,” Jessica says. Her tone takes on a wilting, guru quality reminiscent of our early years. “And that can lead to resentment. "
34 " But you’re so happy in Connecticut,” I say. “Am I?” she asks. “You’ve been to visit me three times in as many years. How would you know?” It’s true, I never make it out there. She never invites me, either, but what came first? My unwillingness to go, or her unwillingness to extend herself? "
35 " My happiness is accepting that ninety-five percent of the time my life is deeply imperfect. "
36 " The simple beauty, as you put it, is from things not always aligning. There is no simple beauty in perfection. "
37 " Sometimes good wins, sometimes evil does. We do not fight for good’s permanent triumph, but for the balance. "
38 " WE HAD THIS GAME WE USED to play, Tobias and me. Five words to describe your life right now, right this minute. "
39 " Change is the only true constant. "
40 " This was the thing he wanted most in the world, and I couldn't be there to share in it with him. A thought crossed my mind: that we could have the things we wanted, just not together. "