“She brushed the tears from their faces and sang them a melancholy lullaby. Her obvious devotion to her daughters pulled at my heart strings, making my chest ache with longing for my own mother.”

“I sometimes wish I could spontaneously combust. Burn until nothing but ash is left, to be washed away by the wind and the rain.”

“Never stop dreaming or reading.”

“In a spirit of hope and new beginnings, we linked arms like a couple of kids. Pushing aside sad thoughts, we strode off into our future.”

“I wanted to soothe and comfort her, the way she had comforted her daughters.”

“I felt like I was an arrow, pulled back and ready to be launched into something big.”

“I wiggled and squirmed in my seat as if I had ants in my pants, but in reality it was merely impatience.”

“The poker fell from my trembling hands as my entire body shook with reaction. I fell to my knees, pressed my hands to my face and began to sob. What had I done?”

“Sitting outside on a dark night, under the stars, invites confidences amongst people of all ages, and all walks of life. It invokes an intimacy you don’t find under most other circumstances.”

“Hesitating, I stood in the doorway to the room holding the proof of my sin.”

“I felt like I was living two lives. One in the present and one in the past.”