When had my fear of broken plates gotten so grandiose? My desire for extravagant moments so small?

This is the autumn of wonders, yet every day, every single day, I go back to that burned afternoon in August when T. Ray left. I go back to that one moment when I stood in the driveway with small rocks and clumps of dirt around my feet and looked back at the porch. And there they were. All these mothers. I have more mothers than any eight girls off the street. They are the moons shining over me.

Where do you come from?"...This is the number one most-asked question in all of South Carolina. We want to know if you are one of us, if your cousin knows our cousin, if your little sister went to school with our big brother, if you go to the same Baptist church as our ex-boss. We are looking for ways our stories fit together.

Into every life a little rain must fall.

There's nothing like a song about lost love to remind you how everything precious can slip from the hinges where you've hung it so careful.

Sometimes, in order to say yes to what matters most, I must say no to good things.

This is what I know about myself. She was all I wanted. And I took her away.