“Why do you think, A.J.," they say in unison, "that you find these boys so attractive?" I didn't say that this fiery chemical explosion leaps from somewhere inside me. Parents don't want to hear these things. I shrugged and said nothing. "Maybe you should try sitting on the intensity," Mom suggests, "just until your feelings catch up with reality.""We could chain you to the water heater," Dad offers, "until these little moments pass."You see what I'm up against.”

“What in the world are we going to do with you?' Mrs. Ritter asked.I could think of a few things.Take it easy on me.Teach me different.Care about me just a little.So many times that year I wanted to shout,'It's not like I'm waking up in the morning and trying to mess up. I just don't get it!”

“We were having the best time working together, too, except when he'd make a mistake on an order and I'd have to be an advocate for my customer. I always mentioned it sweetly."You didn't say hold the bacon, Hope.""Barverman, I said it twice.""You must have said it to someone else.""I said it to you."Clang."Don't clang pots at me.”

“I hope you'll have the kind of life where what you stand for is so important that it makes some people outright hostile. You won't know how strong your beliefs really are until you have to defend them.”

“Finally he said, "Hope, do you want to have dinner with me sometime?"I dropped a plastic bottle of Gulden's.We looked at it on the floor. Neither of us picked it up."I mean, I know we have dinner a lot when we're working. I meant out someplace. Together." Braverman picked up the Gulden's bottle, handed it to me. He coughed. "A date."I said, "What is this, an epidemic?"I backed out the door and left Braverman in the supply closet.I don't get asked out too much either.”

“Almost Homeby Sugar Mae ColeHome isn’t always a place you picture in your mindWith furniture and cookies and music playing and people laughing.Home is something you can carry around like a dreamAnd let it grow in your heart until you’re ready for it.Losing things helps you appreciate when you find them againAnd finding things gives you hope that when you lose thingsIt might not be forever.Once, long ago, a girl lost her home, but she didn’t lose her dream.She hung on to it as the wind kept trying to blow it away,But that just made it stronger.So now she has keys and walls of many colorsAnd people around her who think she’s something.”

“You don't understand how much light you have until the lights go out.”