"I guess I'm okay with that. But it's not going to be easy for you. They don't have a lot of fishing or mudding around here." "I figured." "And not a lot of beach volleyball, either. Especially in January." "I guess I'll have to make some sacrifices." "Maybe if you're lucky, we can find you some other ways to occupy your time."

...when a wife wouldn't testify, little punishment was meted out. Alex came to understand that only those who pressed charges ever became truly free, because the life they were leading was a prison, even if most of them wouldn't admit it.

Poets knew that isolation in nature, far from people and things man-made, was good for the soul, and he'd always identified with poets.

That initial anger she had felt turned to sadness, and now it had become something else, almost a dullness of sorts. Even though she was constantly in motion, it seemed as if nothing special ever happened to her anymore. Each day seemed exactly like the last, and she had trouble differentiating among them.

I realized that there were times when we talked not because we needed to communicate anything important, but simply because we each drew comfort from the other's voice.

The ocean has been singing to me, and the song is that of our life together.

When I look in the mirror, I know I’m looking at someone who isn’t sure she deserves to be loved at all.