“Her voice was caught in the shell of my ear, as if it were the ocean.”

“Asking me to describe my son is like asking me to hold the ocean in a paper cup”

“Her voice sounded like a string that was fraying.”

“Sara: "You are so brave," I tell her, and then I smile. "When I grow up, I want to be just like you."To my surprise, Kate shakes her head hard. Her voice is a feather, a thread. "No Mommy," she says. "You'd be sick.”

“No matter how long I live, I will always remember the way the light went out of her eyes, like a candle flame caught in an unexpected wind.”

“Sometimes there aren't words. The silence between us is flung wide as an ocean. But I manage to reach across it, to wrap my arms around him.”

“She felt a cage coming down around her; too late she realized that he had her trapped by the heart. And like any unwilling animal that was well and truly caught, she could escape only by leaving a piece of herself behind.”