"I don't know," I said. "What else did you do for your first eighteen years?" "Like I said," he said as I unlocked the car, "I'm not so sure that you should go by my example." "Why not?" "Because I have my regrets," he said. "Also, I'm a guy. And guys do different stuff." "Like ride bikes?" I said. "No," he replied. "Like have food fights. And break stuff. And set off firecrackers on people's front porches. And..." "Girls can't set off firecrackers on people's front porches?" "They can," he said... "But they're smart enough not to. That's the difference."
Sarah DessenShe fell, she hurt, she felt. She lived. And for all the tumble of her experiences, she still had hope. Maybe this next time would do the trick. Or maybe not. But unless you stepped into the game, you would never know.
Sarah DessenYou can't always get the perfect moment. Sometimes, you just have to do the best you can under the circumstances.
Sarah DessenA second later, when he looked up at me, we were face to face, and again, even under these circumstances, I was struck by how good looking he was, in that accidental, doesn't-even-know-it kind of way. Which only made it worse. Or better. Or whatever. "Yup", he said, as if there'd been any doubt, "you're in there, all right." "I was warned, too,"I told him, as he stood up. "I just saw that sculpture, and I got distracted." "The sculpture?" He looked at it, then at me. "Oh, right. Because you know it.
Sarah DessenIt's true. It's like the hidden secret that no one tells you. we can all be beautiful girls, Colie. it's so easy. it's like Dorothy clicking her heels to go home. You could do it all along.
Sarah DessenSee for me, itโs immediate. Silence is so freaking loud.' This seemed either deep or deeply oxymoronic. I wasnโt sure which.
Sarah DessenI remembered Owen telling me how music had saved him in Phoenix, that it drowned everything out, and it was the same for me now. As long as I had something to listen to, I could blur the things I didn't want to think about, if not block them out completely.
Sarah DessenI was beginning to see, though, that the unknown wasn't always the greatest thing to fear. The people who know you best can be risker, because the words they say and things they think have the potential to be not only scary but true, as well.
Sarah DessenI am never happy when I finish a book. I always start feeling good, and then I get to about Page 75 and start losing momentum - and I kind of pull it together at the end, but by then I think it's just all over. It's become almost a running joke among my agent and my editor - I always say that, so they don't take me seriously anymore.
Sarah DessenI think whenever a writer is really enjoying themselves and liking what they are doing, that shows on the page.
Sarah DessenThat was the thing. You just never knew. Forever was so many different things. It was always changing, it was what everything was really all about.
Sarah DessenBut in the real world, you couldnt really just split a family down the middle, mom on one side, dad the other, with the child equally divided between. It was like when you ripped a piece of paper into two: no matter how you tried, the seams never fit exactly right again. It was what you couldn't see, those tiniest of pieces, that were lost in the severing, and their absence kept everything from being complete.
Sarah DessenI thought of all the times we'd been together, how I kept coming closer, then retreating, while he stayed right where he was. A constant in a world where few, if any, really existed.
Sarah DessenEverything, in the end, comes down to timing. One second, one minute, one hour, could make all the difference. So much hanging on just these things, tiny increments that together build a life. Like words build a story, and what had Ted said? One word can change the entire world.
Sarah DessenI honestly don't have many creative outlets. I'm not crafty - although motherhood has forced me to try to be - and I can only draw trees, beaches, and clouds. I'm a so-so cook except for deviled eggs. Writing has always been the one thing I feel that I am pretty good at doing. But it's enough, thank goodness.
Sarah DessenHow fast were you?" Wes asked me. I said, "Not that fast." "You mean you couldn't... fly?" he said, smiling at me.
Sarah DessenTwo a.m.' He swallowed, then said, "You know. The person you can call at two a.m. and, no matter what, you can count on them. Even if they're asleep or it's cold or you need to be bailed out of jail...they'll come for you. It's like, the highest level of friendship.
Sarah DessenThe further you go, the more you have to be proud of. At the same time, in order to come a long way, you have to be behind to begin with. IN the end, though maybe it's not how you reach a place that matters. Just that you get there at all.
Sarah DessenFrom this distance, in the dimness, the model looked surreal, made up of parts filled with buildings, bordered by long stretches of empty space. It reminded me of the way cities and towns look when you are flying at night. You can't make out much. But the places where people have come together, and stayed, are collections of tiny lights, breaking up the darkness.
Sarah DessenWhen you've never gotten love from someone, you don't know what it might look like if it ever does appear. You look for it in everything: any bright light overhead could be a star.
Sarah DessenThat was the nice thing about the Spot: you could hear everything, but no one could see you.
Sarah DessenShe said writting novels was like childbirth: if you truly remembered how awful it got, you'd never do it again.
Sarah DessenI wasn't ready for this, but then I probably never would be, and this year, like so much else, wouldn't wait. I had no choice but to get out of my car, with everyone watching and begin in earnest, alone. So I did
Sarah DessenI wasnโt ready to think about the other yet: that it wasnโt that I wasnโt right for Macon, but that maybe he wasnโt right for me. There was a difference. Even for someone who things didnโt come easy for, someone like me.
Sarah DessenI waited. Because with Eli, he was never trying to get you to finish for him. He always knew where he was going, even if it took a little while to get there.
Sarah DessenFamily isnโt something thatโs supposed to be static, or set. People marry in, divorce out. Theyโre born, they die. Itโs always evolving, turning into something else.
Sarah DessenYou couldn't see the key around my neck: it hung too low under both collars. But if I leaned in close, I could make it out, buried deep beneath. Out of sight, hard to recognize, but still able to be found, even if I was the only one to ever look for it.
Sarah DessenLook. We both know life is short, Macy. Too short to waste a single second with anyone who doesn't appreciate and value you.
Sarah DessenBeing brave and self-confident doesn't necessarily start inside...It starts with the rest of the world, and it leads back to you.
Sarah DessenSo many versions of just one memory, and yet none of them were right or wrong. Instead, they were all pieces. Only when fitted together, edge to edge, could they even begin to tell the whole story.
Sarah DessenYou should never be surprised when someone treats you with respect, you should expect it.
Sarah DessenI spent a lot of time looking at that picture. Wondering what Iโd think of that girl, if I was someone else, seeing how easily she sits in her boyfriendโs lap, laughing, with his arms around her. I would have thought her life was perfect, the way I once thought Cassโs was. It was too easy, I was learning, to just assume things.
Sarah DessenI think I'm too lazy a writer to do something like historical fiction. You have to do so much research. I just write what I know.
Sarah DessenIn my group of friends, I was always the one who remembered everything. The stories, the boys my friends and I dated, all the details. So I think a part of me was always filing them away, although at the time I wasn't sure why.
Sarah DessenI planned my whole future around Adam," she said now, quietly. "And now I have nothing." "No," I told her, "now you just don't have Adam. There's a big difference, Lissa. You just can't see it yet.
Sarah Dessen