Thursday, September 09, 2010

he said it's a funny kind of world

All quotes from StoryPeople

Today's Mental Checklist 1. Things I know for sure - quite a few 2. Things I don't know for sure - quite a few more 3. Things I'll discover I don't know as I go along (only a rough estimate) - about as much as things I currently don't know 4. Things I tell my children that I don't believe myself - lots, but now they're older I tell them I'm making it up & they can believe it at their own risk 5. things that make sense if you stop to think about it a. in daylight - lot unless there's media or government involved b. late at night - almost nothing, so it's better to just go back to sleep 6. Things I believe that people a thousand years ago believed, too - quite a few but I lived in L.A. when I was younger, so I have a good excuse

Favorite to-do list stuff 1. Clean the refrigerator. (Just kidding. That's why refrigerators are so cheap. Just buy another one when this one starts to smell.

I'm feeling overdressed, she said & he held her close & said as far as he was concerned she was always that way & her eyes glowed softly in the light of his desire

The day he first told me he was starting to disappear I didn't believe him & so he stopped & held his hand up to the sun & it was like thin paper in the light & finally I said you seem very calm for a man who is disappearing & he said it was a relief after all those years of trying to keep the pieces of his life in one place. Later on, I went to see him again & as I was leaving, he put a package in my hand. This is the last piece of my life, he said, take good care of it & then he smiled & was gone & the room filled with the sound of the wind & when I opened the package there was nothing there & I thought there must be some mistake or maybe I dropped it & I got down on my hands & knees & looked until the light began to fade & then slowly I felt the pieces of my life fall away gently & suddenly I understood what he meant & I lay there for a long time crying & laughing at the same time.

There are 7 levels of hell, she said, & I think one of them is reserved for people who bring jello salads to every potluck they go to.

She asked my sons what strange countries they had been to & my oldest son said England & my youngest said we live in Iowa & they all agreed that was strangest of all.

I think I'm probably avoiding something pretty big in my inner life, she said, because I'm keeping pretty busy

He told me about Jesus & Arizona & the best way to make beer & I said you're a funny kind of preacher & he said it's a funny kind of world & I still remember his eyes clear as a desert morning.

What do you want? I said & she said, in the abstract or the concrete? & I decided to rephrase the question. I'm going to the store, I said. Need anything? & she frowned & said, Obviously, you meant concrete

When people asked how old she was, she would say 1009365, more or less, because she was so glad to be alive that she counted every day a birthday. She had some disagreement from her knees about the actual figures though. . .

My favorite time of day is just at dark when all thoughts of what must be done stop & small pools of light come alive on tired faces everywhere.

On the lookout for the next big thing because it would solve a lot of the problems of having to deal with the same old stuff.

I'm trying to pack for the future, he said, but I think it's too much stuff. So what are you going to do? I said & he shrugged & said he was going to trust that everything would work out. &, he added, I'm moving back in with my parents

We need a letter that's like i & u together for when we're doing stuff like this, he said & I hugged him & said a lot of people want a letter like that.

I have a friend who took all the doors out of his house one summer. It reminds me there's nothing I have that's worth hiding, he said. No secrets is the key to world peace. He put them all back on that winter. I decided it was peaceful enough for me, he said.

This is a box filled with things that make your body tingle & she's saving it for some time when she's in a long-term relationship & can make better use of it.

These knees have stories, she said, but they'd have to be a mouth to tell you.

this is a mountain goat with too many years of regret for not pursuing a dance career in Vegas, so she bounces around from peak to valley a lot

being as careful as possible because even though he's not sure exactly where he's going, he knows there are some parts of it he's just going to hate

I think I'm having a heart attack, she said, but it's dragging on for hours. I told her not to worry. That's how most people who work a full day feel, I said.

bending over backwards to keep from having to go forwards

doesn't mind carrying a few choice pieces of baggage so she has a conversation starter in almost any social situation

travelling as fast in one direction as she can go before she has second thoughts & goes back to doing the same old stuff

scattering little bits of happiness everywhere she goes, except at home because her family told her to get out & leave them in peace for godsakes

How can you be sure it has a soul? she said. You can't , I said, unless you've got one yourself

Hiding behind a beach towel so all anyone remembers about him is a bunch of orange stripes.

For a long time, she flew only when she thought no one else was watching.

Every time I looked at the picture I thought how I should have kissed her, so finally I hid it in the attic & I wonder if it's still there with us both so young & her waiting to be kissed.

I'll bet you wouldn't even miss me if I died, she said. Depends on if you'd been grumpy in those final days, I said & she tried to look sad but I saw the smile anyway.

2 comments:

Harsony said...

Thank you for sharing these wonderful thoughts! I've got an undescribable feeling the whole day... and in these lines I've found the right words to express it. Love your blog, love your quotes. Keep posting!

Paige said...

words are tricky sometimes. i'm glad this helped!