“For us what was killing was how nothing had changed. We'd been waiting to be transformed, and now here we were, back in our old life.”

“I got back in my car, starting the engine, then drove off. It wasn't until I pulled onto the highway that it all really sunk it, how temporary our friendship had been. We'd been on our breaks, after all, but it wasn't our relationships that were on pause: it was us. Now we were both in motion again, moving ahead. So what if there were questions left unanswered. Life went on. We knew that better than anyone.”

“Life is all about change. We constantly transform all our life. Struggle is nothing more than a signal and confirmation of the needed changes that are ahead of us on the road of our lives”

“Dariya and I used to play French Revolution when we were little. We'd take turns being Marie Antoinette. Our grandmamma caught us once and had us whipped for revolutionary sentiments. We were six years old at the time and had no idea even what revolutionary sentiments were.”

“I realized then how much alike we were. Both of us looked backwards to a beloved time that was lost to us, a time where everything had been beautiful. Both of us looked forward to some time and place that would be better. And both of us were here, now, in a grim, unhappy time where little was as we wanted it to be. We lived in our memories and in our hopes, enduring the present because we had no other choice, and because we loved the people who lived here with us.”

“When we least expect it, life puts before us a challenge to test our courage and willingness to change; our willingness to set our fear and selfishness aside; at such a moment, there is no point in pretending that nothing is happening or in saying that we are not yet ready. The challenge will not wait. Life does not look back.”