Whistling Past the Graveyard

My daddy says that when you do somethin' to distract you from your worstest fears, it's like whistlin' past the graveyard. You know, making a racket to keep the scaredness and the ghosts away. He says that's how we get by sometimes. But it's not weak, like hidin'...it's strong. It means you're able to go on.

My daddy always said being brave wasn’t not being scared. Being brave was keeping going when you were.

God's job ain't to make our lives easier, it's to make us better souls by the lessons He gives us.

I wasn't never gonna run off again, no matter how bad things got. But I wasn't gonna be too scared to love the folks that took the time to love me back, and I sure wasn't gonna chase them that don't. And I was gonna spend the rest of my life asking questions and looking behind everything that happened, so I could find the gifts I got tucked inside me.

I had to hold on to the mad so the sad didn't drown me.

I locked the door and turned on the water to fill the tub. I made it so hot that I had to get in real slow. I wanted it to hurt; wanted my outside to feel as bad as my inside. I sat there a long time watching my skin turn redder and redder... Finally my insides was as fiery as my skin. I liked the burn and hoped it took everything I'd been wishing for and turned it to ashes.

She grabbed me in a hug so ferocious, the love reached clean to my bones. She kissed the top of my head. "Truth is, you save me, child. You save me as sure as the sun rises.

A body can't run from what they done. They carry it with them inside. It fester and spread like poison if it's buried. It gotta be out in the air where it can heal.

She leaned down so she was looking right in my eyes. "You hear me, child. you can't use other folks' bad behavior to excuse your own. When we got a choice, we keep Jesus in our hearts and don't do nothing that would make him ashamed.

Some of the best things in life come when you’re not planning on them. It’s important to see them for the gift they are.

But I wasn’t gonna be too scared to love the folks that took the time to love me back, and I sure wasn’t gonna chase them that don’t.

She slammed down the phone. The sharp bang shattered my heart like a bottle hitting the sidewalk

Sometimes laughin' is all a body can do, child. It's laugh or lose your mind.

I wanted to say something to make her feel better, but I didn't know what words could have that much magic.

I know you didn’t see the violence and need for control in him in the beginning, but I’m sure it was there. Nothing you did turned him into such an abusive man. And you … well, you just didn’t see your own value before that. It’s an easy thing for a woman to overlook. We’re taught from the cradle that men rule.

I wondered, what other gifts I got bottled up inside me? That question had started to gnaw on me some.

Why ain't you mad?" I asked. "Might as well get mad at the wind for blowin'. Some things just be what they be.

One day that song stopped being on the outside of me and went deep inside. It was there all the time, especially when I was feeling particularly lonely.

I spent my whole life wantin' to take care of children. You a blessing, not a burden." She looked at me hard. "Don't you go forgettin' that." She patted my shoulder and left me alone. As I fell asleep, it come to me that that was the first time anybody had ever told me I was a blessing.

I knew how she felt, all jittered up inside and no place to put the aggravation.

Outside was the calm that sat in front of a July storm, the kind of cloudy stillness that said you’d better get you and your bicycle on home before a gully washer let loose.

Sometimes laughin’ is all a body can do, child. It’s laugh or lose your mind.

all bullies got worse when you let them know they were hurting you.

Never let a bully see you scared.

God’s job ain’t to make our lives easier, it’s to make us better souls by the lessons he give us.

Patti Lynn had a real family with a sister and three brothers and lived in a big house on Magnolia Street. She even had a dog.