“Hiding behind the mask of a quotation, using someone else’s words to bolster our own softly blooming emotions.”

“Looks can’t hide your true identity. It’s the eyes that give you away…the soul behind them. The intent. The Shadows.”

“ 'We've all had judgement lapses that had us tiptoeing toward our own personal apocalypse.' ”

“Why the hell was she smiling like that?...Her mouth was blown so wide that the soft insides showed at the corners, like another grin was building in there. As if her laughter tumbled. Like joy was a living thing.”

“That's what hiding away did, whether it was from the world or yourself, your past, or even your dreams. It took absolutely no effort to have a miserable life. But building a glorious one? A life worth living and sharing with others? That's what was hard." Joanna”

“But no life was without it's strain & strife, not if it was fully lived. Opening up to experience, even the good ones like trust & love, was to open yourself up to the pain. I suppose the key was to not compound matters by making the rest of it unnecessarily hard. My need for control had certainly done that in the past. So I made a promise to myself in that moment. I would make a concerted effort to reach for what was soft & good in this world. I'd find a place to settle into, and hold still so that this world's good and soft could reach back & touch me as well.”

“So much to say, yet no words would ever be enough.”