“She is in my heart and in my bones; she is in the very depths of my being. She is my overdose, my addiction so deep that it cannot be destroyed without killing the addict too. Her face was my sun and her eyes were my stars and she is in my thoughts every minute of every day. There are a million guys out there who would have given anything for a shot at bringing her happiness, so I hope that for the short time that we had together, I at least made her as happy as she made me. I loved her so much and I'll always love her.Till the end of the world and beyond.”

“I ran into her a couple of times after that but she always turned her face away and never spoke to me again. She had a sort of stubborn dignity about her that made me respect her even more.”

“I usually give guys like tha twenty or fifty euros; whatever's in me wallet, ya know? But you've opened my eyes and so from now on, I think I'm gonna just take them out for a meal instead," I said"Really? Well how about if I dress up like a homeless person, will you take me out for a meal?" said Ashling and my heart started to beat a little bit faster because I knew that she wouldn't even be joking about that unless she wanted a second date with me.”

“Sometimes I did wonder though why Ashling was with me. On that one occasion when I asked her what she saw in me, she wouldn't give me a straight answer. When I pressed her on it, she said that if someone loves you then all you have to do is let them.”

“In those early days of our relationship though, I always thought that she was so perfect that there had to be a catch. But there wasn't one. Five months and two days after our very first meeting, we were engaged and nine months after that we were married. And every day that I spent on this planet in the company of Ashling, I experienced the same sense of euphoria that I had tasted on our first date. I experienced something that in its simplest form can only be described as true love.”

“She looked me in the eye without saying anything. We both knew what was going to happen next. There would never be a better moment. I leaned over and kissed her on the lips and if we had have been actors in a movie, the camera would have panned upwards at that point to capture fireworks exploding in the sky. I didn't need any fireworks or orchestral symphonies to complete the moment though, because for me it was perfect exactly the way it was.”

“...with every step I thought of my mother's courage as she faced her judges. With every step I thought of her cleaving to the truth even as she fell the short distance of the rope. With every step I thought of her pride, her strength, her love. And with every step I thought, I am my mother's daughter, I am my mother's daughter...”