Brian Andreas

“My grandmother used to say life was so much easier when you were simple-minded.It’s taken me almost my whole life to understand what she meant.”

“Wanting him to come back before anyone notices part of the world has not moved since he left.”

“Is willing to accept that she creates her own reality except for some of the parts where she can't help but wonder what the hell she was thinking”

“Why do they treat us like children? they said & I said why do you treat them like adults?& their eyes opened wide & they began to laugh & talk all at once & suddenly everything looked possible again.”

“I've always liked the time before dawn because there's no one around to remind me who I'm supposed to be so it's easier to remember who I am.”

“I'm an outsider by choice, she said, but I'm hoping that won't be my choice forever.”

“These are the multiple shadows because there were a lot of things she walked away from without a word of explanation when she was younger & she still thinks about them more than she needs to.”

“She learned to love him before he thought it was even possible, so he didn't have a chance to hide & mess it up & while it was a little scary at times, mainly he could not even imagine the world without her there.”

“Is there a lot of stuff you don't understand? she said & I said pretty much the whole thing & she nodded & said that's what she thought, but it was nice to hear it anyways & we sat there on the porch swing, listening to the wind & growing up together.”

“She told me once that the year she went to England she painted her buttons yellow so she would remember what the sun felt like.”

“When she played her music even the night demons stopped their work & it took them some time to remember what it was they were doing & the best of them had no stomach for it for a long time after that.”

“She always camouflaged herself as a crowd. I've never been lonely, she said, but sometimes it's hard to think above the noise.”

“I buried a nickel under the porch when I was 8, she said, but one day my grandma died & they sold the house & I never got to go back for it.A nickel used to mean something, I said.She nodded. It still does, she said & then she started to cry.”

“She left pieces of her life behind her everywhere she went. It's easier to feel the sunlight without them, she said.”

“She waved at all the people on the train & later, when she saw they didn't wave back, she started singing songs to herself & it went that way the whole day & she couldn't remember having a better time in her life.”

“When I was 5, he said, my family forgot & left me at the fair. I wandered around in the bright sounds & smells of hot sawdust & cotton candy for hours. It was already too late by the time my parents found me.I haven't been fit for decent society since.”

“I've read a lot of books, so I know bunches of stuff that sounds like it could be true.”

“Everything changed the day she figured out there was exactly enough time for the important things in her life.”

“What I'm mostly good at is sleeping, he once told me in confidence, but he added, I don't see much future in it.”

“I don't really like coffee, she said, but I don't really like it when my head hits my desk when I fall asleep either. ”

“If you're right & I'm not, I'm going to be hell to live with, she said. So, you better think about that next time you want to be right. ”

“I'm not sure if there's one right place I'm supposed to be, he said, but I know a couple of wrong places I'd give a second try in a heartbeat. ”

“Start here & go until you die, he said. What's so complicated about that? ”

“If you were smart, you'd probably spend more time stretching, he said & I said, If I were really smart, I'd probably spend more time just sitting in the shade drinking lemonade.”

“A few said they'd be horses. Most said they'd be some sort of cat. My friend said she'd like to come back as a porcupine. I don't like crowds, she said. ”

“Your job is to focus on my personal happiness, she said, & I've got big plans, so break time is over. ”

“Are you a princess? I said & she said I'm much more than a princess, but you don't have a name for it yet here on earth. ”

“There are lives I can imagine without children but none of them have the same laughter & noise.”

“He loved her for almost everything she was & she decided that was enough to let him stay for a very long time.”

“I read once that the ancient Egyptians had fifty words for sand & the Eskimos had a hundred words for snow. I wish I had a thousand words for love, but all that comes to mind is the way you move against me while you sleep & there are no words for that.”

“we went to a church that had missionaries who'd come back once a year from Fiji & give talks. I remember one of them saying it was very hard work telling people they were going to lose their everlasting souls if they didn't shape up. I pictured people sitting on the beach listening to this sweaty man all dressed in black telling them they were going to burn in hell & them thinking this was good fun, these scary stories this guy was telling them & afterwards, they'd all go home & eat mango & fish & they'd play Monopoly & laugh & laugh & they'd go to bed & wake up the next day & do it all again.”

“This used to be a mean monster until he got sick one winter with the flu & stayed in bed & watched too much Little House on the Prairie & now the littlest thing & he starts to cry.”

“You may not remember the time you let me go first. Or the time you dropped back to tell me it wasn't that far to go. Or the time you waited at the crossroads for me to catch up. You may not remember any of those, but I do and this is what I have to say to you: Today, no matter what it takes, we ride home together.”

“In those days, we finally chose to walk like giants and hold the world in arms grown strong with loveAnd there may be many things we forget in the days to come,But this will not be one of them.”

“That was the day the ancient songs of blood and war spilled from a hole in the skyAnd there was a long moment as we listened and fell silent in our griefand then one by one, we stood talland came togetherand began to sing of life and love and all that is good and trueAnd I will never forget that day when the ancient songs died because there was no one in the world to sing them.”

“I was waiting for the longest time, she said. I thought you forgot.It is hard to forget, I said, when there is such an empty space when you are gone.”

“There was a single blue line of crayon drawn across every wall in the house. What does it mean? I asked. A pirate needs the sight of the sea, he said and then he pulled his eye patch down and turned and sailed away.”

“In my dream, the angel shrugged and said, if we fail this time, it will be a failure of imaginationand then she placed the world gently in the palm of my hand.”

“I held her close for only a short time, but after she was gone, I'd see her smile on the face of a perfect stranger and I knew she would be there with me all the rest of my days.”

“We sat in the car & the night droppeddown until the only sounds werethe crickets &the dance of our voices& for a momentthe world becamesmall enough toroll back & forth between us.”

“Resorting to connecting the dots this morning because it was a long night & he needs to do something really simple to get started again.”

“One time I was standing on a corner in Chicago & a man stopped his car & asked for directions to a place I knew & I said that's too easy, ask me something harder & he yelled & said he wasn't playing games kid & then he drove off & I think about him sometimes & wonder if he ever got there.”

“Had a long night last night on the other side of the world so he's having a hard time this morning letting his light shine”

“there are things you do because they feel right and they may make no sense and they may make no money and it may be the real reason we are here: to love each other and to eat each other's cooking and say it was good.”

“Most people don't know there are angels whose only job is to make sure you don't get too comfortable & fall asleep & miss your life. ”

“This is a giant block of whatever is most difficult for you to carry & trust me on this, you'll carry it more times than you can count until you decide that's exactly what you want to do most & then it won't weigh a thing anymore”

“I once had a garden filled with flowers that grew only on dark thoughts but they need constant attention & one day I decided I had better things to do. ”

“I have too much to lose, she said, if I cross that line. Like what? I said. She could not think of anything that day so she said she'd get back to me. Since then I've been thinking what I would lose if I cross my line & I haven't come up with anything either. There's always another line somewhere.”

“Trapped mainly by wanting things to be exactly as they are, only better ”

“feels like some kind of ride but it's turning out justto be life going absolutely perfectly”