“Permanence:Just because they die, she said, doesn't mean they go away.”

“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.”

“Single Mind:If I love you with all my heart, she said, what will you give me? & then she stopped & said I didn't have to answer that because she was going to do it anyway.”

“She said she usually cried at least once each day not because she was sad, but because the world was so beautiful & life was so short.”

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

“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.”

“Last Minute:I have to buy all my presents at the last minute, she said, or I get too excited & just give them away.”