“What I meant was, you looked happier in the pictures.”

“Old pictures look very rugged and young, and the people in the photographs always seem a lot happier than you are.”

“dying, you don't get to see how it all turns out. Questions you have asked will go unanswered forever. Will this one of my children settle down? Will that one learn to be happier? Will I ever discover what was meant by such-and-such?”

“I pictured a girl who made every moment, everything she touched, and everyone around her feel lighter and sweeter.“I pictured you,” he said. “I just didn’t know what you looked like.“And then, when I did know what you looked like, you looked like the girl who was all those things. You looked like the girl I loved.”

“You look so good," I say, and s***! Oh god, that's not what I meant. S***! "It looks good. The book.”

“Sometimes it hurts to look at you,” I said. I loved that I could say that and he knew exactly what I meant.”