Great tragedy gives us opportunities for great kindness.

I know what it is to hope and pray so hard that you're sure God will answer your prayer just so you'll stop asking.

when you lose your sails, row.

They say that not matter how old you become, when you are with your siblings, you revert back to childhood.

There is how we were before, and how we are now, and the time between is spent choosing which doors to open, and which to close.

Mama?" "Yes, Emmy." She traced a rivulet of rain with her finger as it made its journey down the glass. "How do you know when it's been long enough?" Emmy could sense her mother smiling into the phone. "When you relaize that love doesn't have a time span. Only pain does. I think sometimes it's hard to distinguish between the two, so we just hold on to both of them like they're inseparable.

Strong winds buffet the sea oats and tall dune grasses, tossing sand and seabirds where it will, winding my sister's golden hair into sunlit spirals of silk until it becomes the only good memory I have of her -- the only memory I allowed myself to keep.