“I thought I'd had another few decades before my noise complaint years.”

“The view from my window was of a sloping green field, dotted with a few muddy sheep; the same lush, safe, soggy world that nearly fifteen years earlier was all Lulu, Damien, and I had ever known. Until Dad had said, "We're going to Botswana."I felt profoundly homesick, for the first time in my life. Knowing I'd be back, I'd never minded leaving before. There was the comforting thought of returning.”

“I'd had my share of rain. My mother's illness ... had weighed on me, but the years before had been heavy, too. I was only twenty eight.”

“Before I met my husband, I'd never fallen in love. I'd stepped in it a few times.”

“I had to go to my locker before lunch." Actually, i didn't, but i'd used the excuse so i could walk past Noah's locker and steal a few seconds-okay, a few kisses-from him.”

“I remembered twenty. I'd known everything at twenty. It took me another year to realize I knew nothing. I was still hoping to learn something before I hit thirty, but I wasn't holding my breath.”