Lovely Girls

Don't wish away time. No matter how hard it is right now. It passes by quickly enough on its own.

Don't wish time away, I said. No matter how hard it is right now. It passes by quickly enough on it's own.

Could I have a dozen everything bagels and a one-pound container of cinnamon-raisin cream cheese?” I asked in a forced cheery tone.

it’s human nature to make excuses for behavior we can’t understand.

Don’t wish away time,” I said. “No matter how hard it is right now. It passes by quickly enough on its own.

My mother was incapable of empathy or kindness. She had never been someone I could lean on for support.

This was why I went through life in such a lonely state. I thought terrible things. And then those terrible things came true.

wondered when I would get used to being alone. Other than Alex, I didn’t have anyone in my life. No one I could call up and say, “Hey, I just need to hear a friendly voice,” and then chat with about nothing or everything for a half hour. How had this happened?

Other people had kind, supportive mothers who helped them when their lives shattered into pieces. I had the sort of mother who turned to me at my husband’s funeral and said, “You have no idea how hard all of this has been on your father and me. Ed was like a son to us.

no one is all good or all bad.

Joe was the only good thing that had happened since we’d moved to Shoreham. But I couldn’t stay in a town where my daughter and I had both become pariahs for the sake of a relationship with a man I’d only just met.

No one is all good or all bad. Everyone's a shade of gray.

The truth was, you have no idea how you'll handle grief until it presents itself.

That's just it. Things can always get worse.