“The answer to most prayers is no.”

“From across her husband's open grave I had thought she exuded a certain foxy mystique, but now, to my disappointment, she looked just like every other mother I knew.”

“When he left us, he stole all the words.”

“I need to confront my loss, not run away from it. I wanted to wade in with my eyes open and all my senses alert. I wanted to register everything, from the giant waves of sorrow to the inkiest ripples of remorse. I didn't want to miss any of it.”

“But love and pain are two sides of the same coin. You can't have one without the other. Sometimes that's how we know we're alive.”

“Sometimes life-changing moments slip by unnoticed, their significance only becoming apparent in the light of subsequent events.”

“The answer to most prayers is no.”

“There's just so much to live for.”