“The worst part of holding the memories is not the pain. It's the loneliness of it. Memories need to be shared.”

“It's the worst part of seeing old friends: when your rose-colored memories become undone by reality.”

“That's just pain she said. It goes eventually. And when it's gone, there's no lasting memory. Not the worst of it anyway. It fades. Our minds aren't made to hold on to the particulars of pain the way we do bliss. It's a gift God gives us, a sign of His care for us.”

“I'm allergic to sad memories. It's the worst.”

“But pain may be a gift to us. Remember, after all, that pain is one of the ways we register in memory the things that vanish, that are taken away. We fix them in our minds forever by yearning, by pain, by crying out. Pain, the pain that seems unbearable at the time, is memory's first imprinting step, the cornerstone of the temple we erect inside us in memory of the dead. Pain is part of memory, and memory is a God-given gift.”

“Time brought along its secretary, memory, and space brought its brat, loneliness.”