The older I get, the more I appreciate my rural childhood. I spent a lot of time outdoors, unsupervised, which is a blessing.

Hallie and I... were all there was. The image in the mirror that proves you are still here. We had exactly one sister apiece. We grew up knowing the simple arithmetic of scarcity: A sister is more precious than an eye.

Like kids who only ever get socks for Christmas, but still believe with all their hearts in Santa.

...whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. And peace will be with you.

Many of us who aren't farmers or gardeners still have some element of farm nostalgia in our family past, real or imagined: a secret longing for some connection to a life where a rooster crows in the yard.

Now I'm starting to think he wasn't supposed to be my whole life, he was just this doorway to me.

Literature sucks you into another psyche. So the creation of empathy necessarily influences how you'll behave to other people.