“But she does it anyway, and I sit beside her...because strength is a choice.”
― Nadine Brandes, quote from A Time to Speak
“The promise of uncertainty changes how I live. It urges me to live... more, as if the very seconds prior to every sunset will be my last. That's the way it's suppose to be.”
― Nadine Brandes, quote from A Time to Speak
“Love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. I don't think He wants us to keep asking and dwelling on His specific plan or will. He wants us to dwell on and seek Him. Then our decisions will be made from our love for and relationship with Him. We are free to take action in whatever means we want as long as we seek Him and allow Him to guide us.”
― Nadine Brandes, quote from A Time to Speak
“Besides, who says I need to figure out love all at once? It's not a sudden thing. It's gradual, creeping in like a secret and then whispering hints over the cycle of time until you step back and see that all the hints lead to love.
Mother once said love is a choice, not a feeling. But don't feelings come from our choices? Or maybe our choices come from our feelings. I don't know.”
― Nadine Brandes, quote from A Time to Speak
“to a High City with him . . . alone. And those who know he lives in the”
― Nadine Brandes, quote from A Time to Speak
Nadine Brandes
Born place: The United States
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“Siempre es levemente siniestro volver a los lugares que han sido testigos de un instante de perfección”
― Ernesto Sabato, quote from On Heroes and Tombs
“There is much in this world that hurts us, but if we let pain become our master, we live our lives as slaves.”
― Hannah Hart, quote from Buffering: Unshared Tales of a Life Fully Loaded
“And Lot's wife, of course, was told not to look back where all those people and their homes had been. But she did look back, and I love her for that, because it was so human. So she was turned into a pillar of salt. So it goes.”
― Kurt Vonnegut, quote from Slaughterhouse-five: The Children's Crusade, A Duty-dance with Death
“As he got older, Billy suspected, he would, Dicaprio-like, simply become like an increasingly wizened child.”
― China Miéville, quote from Kraken
“The hospital is as busy as it was yesterday. We go in through the main entrance, and people walk in every direction. The people in scrubs and white coats all walk a little bit faster. There’s a guy sleeping on one of the waiting room sofas, and a hugely pregnant woman leaning against the wall by the elevator. She’s swirling a drink in a plastic cup. That baby is giving her T-shirt a run for its money. A toddler is throwing a tantrum somewhere down the hallway. The shrieking echoes.
We move to the bank of elevators, too, and Melonhead isn’t one of those guys who insists on pressing a button that’s already lit. He smiles and says “Good afternoon” to the pregnant woman, but I can’t look away from her swollen belly.
My mother is going to look like that.
My mother is going to have a baby.
My brain still can’t process this.
Suddenly, the woman’s abdomen twitches and shifts. It’s startling, and my eyes flick up to find her face.
She laughs at my expression. “He’s trying to get comfortable.”
The elevator dings, and we all get on. Her stomach keeps moving.
I realize I’m being a freak, but it’s the creepiest thing I’ve ever seen. I can’t stop staring.
She laughs again, softly, then comes closer. “Here. You can feel it.”
“It’s okay,” I say quickly.
Melonhead chuckles, and I scowl.
“Not too many people get to touch a baby before it’s born,” she says, her voice still teasing. “You don’t want to be one of the chosen few?”
“I’m not used to random women asking me to touch them,” I say.
“This is number five,” she says. “I’m completely over random people touching me. Here.” She takes my wrist and puts my hand right over the twitching.
Her belly is firmer than I expect, and we’re close enough that I can look right down her shirt. I’m torn between wanting to pull my hand back and not wanting to be rude.
Then the baby moves under my hand, something firm pushing right against my fingers. I gasp without meaning to.
“He says hi,” the woman says.
I can’t stop thinking of my mother. I try to imagine her looking like this, and I fail.
I try to imagine her encouraging me to touch the baby, and I fail.
Four months.
The elevator dings.
“Come on, Murph,” says Melonhead.
I look at the pregnant lady. I have no idea what to say. Thanks?
“Be good,” she says, and takes a sip of her drink.
The elevator closes and she’s gone”
― Brigid Kemmerer, quote from Letters to the Lost
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