“‘There’s been an accident.’ Silence. My doorbell rang. 6 uniformed agents were at my front door. ‘Leave your daughter here, they will watch her, you need to come with me.’ I was hesitant, but sensed the urgency in their voices. No one knows how long he had been laying there. I froze. I kept thinking it was a joke. Scott was a huge prankster. I just kept hoping his eyes would open.”
“People can be inconsiderate and make comments, but it is only because they don’t understand or they will choose not to. However, the choice is yours whether or not to take that as your identity.”
“When I was 18, I threw a party at my house. I convinced my parents I was grown enough to stay home alone. Enter the sweaty keg in the living room that left a ring on the floor permanently. And the collection of teddy bears my mom kept in the living room drowned in the pool. It was devastating. That night I drank too much and let people I thought were friends, destroy parts of my childhood.”
“I signed an incident report which stated he didn’t even cry at the time. Do I need to be upset? Nah. I would’ve given anything to have just one mom look up at me and say, ‘I’ve been there too. It’s okay.’”
“The day of the funeral came. I smiled when people asked, ‘When are you guys going to get married?’ I cringed at the thought. I checked his phone. Him: ‘My mom left me a lot of money.’ Her: ‘So?’ Him: ‘Now we can be together.’ Her: ‘What about HER (me), you’re lying.’ Him: ‘Let’s run away together.’ I woke him up and asked him, ‘What the hell is this?'”
“I found myself breaking my set of rules with him right away. I never got in a car with someone. I went for a drive with him on the first date, to the middle of nowhere, to ‘look for owls.’ I told him to invite Meredith (his ex) over for Christmas morning. He was confused. I love my husband’s ex-wife.”
“4 months after I had the baby, Grandma passed away. My kids learned to honor the elderly. They learned to put someone else’s needs above their own. They soaked in the last possible days with people that spent a lifetime pouring into all of us. For that, I have no regrets.”
“I’m thankful I was sleeping under that bridge then just as much as I’m thankful for having a big beautiful house to sleep in now.”
“‘I put on makeup because I like to play with colors. You know, like you play with your art?’ For a second I wonder if that frown had given me away. But then, she’s jabbering on about the butterfly we finger painted yesterday. Thank God, I think. It worked.”
“We begin making more small talk. ‘You mentioned you’ve been married twice. What happened with your second wife?’ Manny sat straight up in his chair and looked me in the eye. ‘Well, sadly, she died as well…’ By now I’m thinking, ‘Oh my gosh, I could end up in the back of his trunk.’ Our server hands us our food. We just sat there across from each other in silence.”
