All I can say is, it's a sort of kinship, as though there is a family tree of grief. On this branch, the lost children, on this the suicided parents, here the beloved mentally ill siblings. When something terrible happens, you discover all of the sudden that you have a new set of relatives, people with whom you can speak in the shorthand of cousins.
Elizabeth McCrackenCan I tell you something? It wasn't so bad. Not so bad at all right then, me scowling at the dirt, James in his bed, the way it always always was. Look, if that's all that happened, if his dying just meant that I would be waiting for him to say something instead of listening to him say something, it would have been fine.
Elizabeth McCrackenThe idea of a library full of books, the books full of knowledge, fills me with fear and love and courage and endless wonder.
Elizabeth McCrackenYou can't out-travel sadness. I travel not to get away from my troubles but to see how they look in front of famous buildings
Elizabeth McCrackenFor some people, history is simply what your wife looks good standing in front of. Itโs whatโs cast in bronze, or framed in sepia tones, or acted out with wax dummies and period furniture. It takes place in glass bubbles filled with water and chunks of plastic snow; itโs stamped on souvenir pencils and summarized in reprint newspapers. History nowadays is recorded in memorabilia. If you canโt purchase a shopping bag that alludes to something, people wonโt believe it ever happened.
Elizabeth McCrackenAs for me, I believe that if there's a God - and I am as neutral on the subject as is possible - then the most basic proof of His existence is black humor. What else explains it, that odd, reliable comfort that billows up at the worst moments, like a beautiful sunset woven out of the smoke over a bombed city.
Elizabeth McCracken