Lurlene McDaniel

“He doesn't teach you what to think. He teaches you how to think.”

“Somebody had to die in order that somebody else can go on living.”

“Stop caring what other people think Erin. Life's too short to live by other people's rules”

“If I can't wait for you at the end of an aisle on your wedding day, I'll wait for you in heaven.”

“What wisdom is there in keeping a person alive above all considerations ? Why should doctors keep restarting someone's heart if they're never going to get well?”

“When you're up against a superior enemy, sometimes it's okay to just bow out gracefully”

“It may be a lifetime before I see you again on the far side of time. Wait for me. Look for me. Please don't forget me, Melinda Skye because one day I will come to you. I will come.”

“Please don't miss me too much. Please don't be too sad. Find someone else to love, because you have much love to give and it's a gift that shouldn't be wasted. You , Jesse, were the rose that made my life sweet.I will wait for you in heaven.”

“We grew up together but we won't grow old together.”

“Cancer isn't the worst thing that can happen to a person. And neither is dying young. Taking life for granted, living badly-- these things seem far worse to me. In many ways- ways that count- I'm the luckiest girl in the world.”

“People can't help the way they look, just the way they act.”

“Life went on whether people participated in it or not”

“You're going to live your life. You're going to honor him doing things you would have done if he'd never gotten sick and died”

“Nobody gets to pick what life gives them”

“I'll never take it for granted again. I'll always be grateful for every spring that comes along.”

“La mayoría de las personas creen que tienen una idea clara de lo que es correcto e incorrecto. Muchos dicen saber cómo actuar, o cómo manejar una situación extrema. Pero para ser honestos, nadie lo sabe. No de verdad. Incluso si dicen: "!Nunca voy a hacer esto o aquello¡" eso en realidad puede no ser cierto. Porque ninguno de nosotros realmente sabe lo que vamos a hacer cuando las circunstancias son tan abrumadoras y complejas que ni siquiera podemos distinguir el bien del mal. Y luego están las situaciones totalmente imprevistas, cuando la vida maneja cartas que nunca esperaste, o cuando algo que consideras malo se transforma en algo correcto y tu mente determina que lo que una vez fue una regla, no está escrita en piedra. Incluso si nunca te pasó, apuesto a que entenderás exactamente de lo que estoy hablando.”

“Esto es lo que me pasó a mí. Pensé que tenía normas. Yo creía en mis absolutos. Lo hice para la mayoría de las situaciones. Entonces no lo hice. Conforme pasó el tiempo, mi mundo se volvió gris y mis absolutos se oscurecieron. El bien y el mal sedisolvieron en lo que sabía que tenía que hacer.”

“Quiero tener una opinión cuando todo esto termine. Quiero decidir. No quiero que el cáncer decida por mi. Mi cuerpo. Mi elección.”

“Each generation stamps itself onto the next one. The impression is indelible. Like the flowers in my mother's gardens that come and go with the changing seasons, life re-creates itself. And the best of life must be nurtured if it is to thrive.”

“On our garden walks Mama always used to tell me, 'Angels live in gardens, Darcy.' 'Where?' I would ask, looking around for the white-winged beings I saw drawn on my Sunday school papers. 'Close your eyes and breathe deep.''All is smell is flowers, Mama,' I would say.'Not so. That's the breath of the angels. And the stirrings you hear in the leaves are their wings brushing past.”

“She did know that the journey to happiness was laborious and strewn with seeds of suffering. She guessed that it was probably a place each person had to seek for herself, that each heart had to find on its own.”

“Forgiving's a choice you make—a gift you give to somebody even if they don't deserve it. It costs nothing, but it makes you feel rich for giving it away.”

“From every ending comes a new beginning.”

“You don't know me, but I know about you...I can't make you live longer. I can't stop you from hurting. But I can give you one wish, as someone did for me.”

“We're all on the journey of a lifetime. God is our shepherd, and we have only to do what He asks of us. Kindness for one another, love for each other, that is what will change the world. Medicine can heal the body. But only God can make well the human soul.”

“Everybody dies; that's a fact. Sometimes it blindsides people. Sometimes people get a glimpse of the big picture and decide to cheat.”

“Most people believe they have a clear idea of what's right and wrong. Many say they know how they'll act, or how they'll handle an extreme situation. But to be honest, no one knows. Not really. Even if you say, 'I'll never do this or that.' it actually might not be true. Because no one of us truly knows what we'll do when the circumstances become so overwhelming and complex that we can't even tell right from wrong. And then there are the totally unforeseen situations, when life deals cards you never expected, or when something's that's considered wrong morphs into something right and your mind determines that what once was the rule is not written in stone.”

“But they can't know how the dark space inside me is growing. I lie to them. I can't get out of the dark hole. 'Peace is here' it whispers.”

“In truth, I don't want to be there. I don't want to see the light go out of my brother's eyes.”

“I think that hurting gives us a way to measure being happy. How can you know one without knowing the other.”

“Sisters are made by living everyday with each other and wearing each other down until the rough spots are smooth. They're made by sharing secrets you'd never tell mom, and out of doing things for each other just because you feel like it, not because you have to. I guess you could say sisters are 'grown,' not manufactured, in a very special place called a family.”

“The importance of my old life is dimming as I move toward the bright light I've seen once before. It's allowing me to come to it, and this time, I won't be sent back. If only the people I'm leaving behind could understand! There is no sadness where I'm going. Only joy.”

“For as long as the world spins and the earth is green with new wood, she will lie in this box and not in my arms.”

“None of us truly knows what we'll do when the circumstances become so overwhelming and complex that we can't even tell right from wrong.”

“When my grandmother was alive, she used to tell me that every time God creates a soul in heaven, he creates another to become its special mate. And that once we're born, we begin our search for our soul mate, the one person who's the perfect fit for our mind and body. They lucky oens find each other.”

“Because I want you to know that your're the most beautiful girl I've ever seen. And I thought I should introduce myself. I mean, we should get to know each other. Since you're the girl I intend to marry.~Mark Gianni”

“Pain and suffering are the soil of strength and courage.”

“In truth, how much time do any of us really have?”

“The stems stood tall and straight, one series arranged in a single line, the other in a crudely shaped heart, the final one in the shape of the letter U. I love you.”

“I'll cover you in flowers someday, Julie-girl.”

“If it's possible to send a message from heaven, I'll get one to you.”

“Who wants to be used? I love to read, so books are my main friends. They're always available, always friendly, and always interesting, and they never make me choose sides.”

“We all didn't come into to the world at the same time so it makes sense that we don't leave it at the same time.”

“hanging out the window, Amber blew her a kiss. a lump the size of a fist clogged Heather's throat, while a breeze from th sea pushed her thick hair away from her face. tears trickled unchecked down her cheeks. ”