My favorite thing is saying something true

All quotes from StoryPeople

One of those rare bumblebees who agreed with the engineers about not being able to fly so he mainly sits around & watches the other bees work themselves to death.

If there is any secret to this life I live, this is it: the sound of what cannot be seen sings within everything that can. & there is nothing more to it than that.

I sometimes wake in the early morning & listen to the soft breathing of my children & I think to myself, this is one thing I will never regret & I carry that quiet with me all day long.

Only her skin between her life & a return to the great wide ocean

The birds brought seed & flowers & bits of brightly colored string & placed them in her hair while she slept so that she would remember the wild joy of spring when she finally awoke.

No hurt survives for long without our help, she said & then she kissed me & sent me out to play again for the rest of my life.

Of course I want to save the world, she said, but I was hoping to do it from the comfort of my regular life.

I'm not worried about ghosts in general, she said. Just the ones that are related to me.

I've always thought death was a lot like Christmas, he said. I can't wait to find out if being good the whole time was worth it.

Contains all the stuff I've decided to keep from the public for my own good

My favorite thing is saying something true, she said, but I'm a lot older than you & don't have to worry so much about my reputation.

I think of it as an opportunity to find out how much money means to me, she said. So far, it means a lot more than I think is probably healthy.

I don't know if I really believe in all the saints, she said, but I pray to them anyway. It makes every night feel more like a slumber party.

he looks fierce mainly because he hates the beginning of winter & the only thing that seems to help is gritting your teeth

I have a really great power suit she said, but I never wear it because no one talks to me on those days.

You have to not care either way about it, she told me, & when you wake up in the middle of the night with anxiety attacks, it's best to lie & say it's because you thought you heard something downstairs

Leaving a trail of destruction behind her even though her current affirmation is happy happy joy joy.

map of some places not discovered quite yet because when people get too close it stands up & trots away

I'll bet even an angel's butt itches if he has to do too much sitting on hard places.

It's hard to say the right words without practice, I said & she whispered in my ear, Say them as many times as you like & we practiced late into the night.

Someday, the light will shine like a sun through my skin & they will say, What have you done with your life? & though there are many moments I think I will remember, in the end, I will be proud to say, I was one of us.

this is a yo-yo that teaches everything there is to know about life, but it spins so fast it's all a blur & it takes a long time to figure out that that's exactly what it's trying to teach you

If you had to balance as much stuff as I do, she said, you'd take an hour in the bathroom every morning too.

I don't care if no one likes it, she said, unless no one likes it.

Every weekend, she went to the city & looked through the bones of the dead for old clothes & bits of fashion jewelry. She always seemed a bit tattered, but I didn't say much about it. I was still young & hadn't settled on a past I was comfortable with yet either.

places where the light & rain get in with no regard for your virtues or reputation

In the end, I think that I will like that we were sitting on the bed, talking & wondering where the time had gone.

she's prepared for almost any transportation mishap, as long as none of them require her to just sit still & think

My favorite thing

is being your lap

while we sit there

together & love

the whole world.

I'm just going to hide here in this paper bag until death comes, she said. It could be a long time, I said. There was a pause & then her head popped out. You think I should have a hobby while I wait? she said.

I know I promised I wouldn't complain, she said, but I'm not ready to start just yet.

holding my breath with the wonder of it all.

All quotes from StoryPeople

Why is the world so confusing? he said & I said it's only confusing if you believe it has to make sense & he looked at me & shook his head. I can't believe they let just anyone have children, he said.

Sitting there in your pajamas & all the time in the world & if I could keep any moment it would be this: watching you & holding my breath with the wonder of it all.

1: trying on new looks because the old ones take too long in the morning & everyone just thinks "O, she's wearing that old thing again" anyway 2: really small mirror so she doesn't have to take the shock all at once

Loving the sound of her own voice as long as she doesn't have to nag

She learned to love him before he thought it was even possible, so he didn't have a chance to hide & mess it up & while it was a little scary at times, mainly he could not even imagine the world without her there.

when he was three, he used to make cooking noises with his mouth & we would wake to the sound of bacon frying & eggs being stirred with a fork so we had some idea that food was in his future

melting in the slow heat of a summer night, damp with the dark air & thoughts of you

I'm sick & tired of all these judgmental people, she said, & I hope they burn in hell for it.

Are you a princess? I said & she said I'm much more than a princess, but you don't have a name for it yet here on earth.

Whenever I go on a trip, I think about all the homes I've had & I remember how little has changed about what comforts me.

finally stretching out into his life because it doesn't look like there are any real alternatives

Tied together by stuff too difficult to explain to someone new

There are things you do because they feel right & they may make no sense & they may make no money & it may be the real reason we are here: to love each other & to eat each other's cooking & say it was good.

I held out my hands & asked where I could help & somebody grabbed me & pointed me towards the future & said, You've got your work cut out for you & I said, isn't there anything easier? & he laughed & said you could dig around in the past, but it's just busywork & that made perfect sense so I shrugged & started right where I was, along with everyone else

cave filled with stuff that people will kill for, which only goes to show you how confused people are about important things

I've learned not to look too closely, she said. Otherwise I'd just keep finding out stuff that'd bug me & we'd never get along.

Does everyone seem taller than usual? she said & I said that's what usually happens when you stop pretending you don't care

We stood out on the porch before we went inside & she told me her secret. Pretend you're just visiting, she said. That way you'll forget that they're family.

I think my life would be easier, she said, if I could just get my selves to agree on something.

sending postcards to himself saying 'Wish you were here' so when he gets back home he doesn't forget

Death take me now & spare me the pain, she said. It was difficult for me to get that excited. Get a grip, I said, it's only aerobics.

They drove south one winter until they could stand outside with no coats on & we never saw them again.

My grandmother told me once that a city has enough windows for everybody. I still want to believe her.

What's that supposed to be? I said. That's a Christmas dragon, he said. If Santa rode around with this instead of all those reindeer I think it'd put real teeth in the naughty-or-nice thing.

You seem very calm for a woman who's getting married, I said & she nodded. It's on my to-do list, she said, so there's no point in agonizing about it

When do you get to be a grown-up? she said. When you can read & write & lie without laughing, I said & her eyes got big & she said she didn't know it was that hard

this is a world filled with love & other things that have the sense not to waste time talking about everything under the sun & see how it glows with no help from us whatsoever

I'm just a vessel waiting to be filled

All quotes from Story People

Whatever you do, she said, don't wait too long or you'll have to start from the very beginning & those new bodies are always kind of a crapshoot.

I've read a lot of books, so I know bunches of stuff that sounds like it could be true.

The surprising thing is that a beehive hairdo in marble is not that much heavier than the real thing.

I'm just a vessel waiting to be filled, she said as long as it mixes well with the stuff already in here

He wouldn't eat lobster the first time. He said it looked too dangerous & he couldn't be sure it wasn't watching from the astral plane or wherever lobsters went when they tired of being food items.

I can imagine it working out perfectly, I said. I can't, she said & I said no wonder you're so stressed.

I will stop complaining when I'm dead, she said, so I got out my day planner & told her I'd love to pencil that in

Getting as comfortable as possible in the moments before she has to be anxious again

This is a story that usually I write in white ink, but most people miss it & start to read too much into it & think it says something about life they couldn't figure out themselves. So, now I write only with stuff people can read & say things as clearly as I can. Like this: don't believe anyone who writes with white ink on white paper. They have too much to hide.

frustrated because it's going too fast to see but if you could see it, it wouldn't make any sense because you'd be looking too close

I know I don't go to church as often as I should, she said, but I still wear pantyhose & that should count for something.

secure in the knowledge that it's hard to ruin mashed potatoes

How do you know? she said & the answers fell like feathers, or the first snowflakes of November, Light & without words I looked in her eyes & smiled. You just know, I said.

I was going to live simply & give away all my money to the poor, she said, until I figured out then I'd be poor, so the simple thing was just to keep it. I like it when things make sense like that, she added.

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.

Come on, people, use your brains for once

All quotes from StoryPeople

Sometimes the only thing to do is to start looking at everything again until you forget what you're supposed to see & actually see what's there

Why do you tell the truth? my son asked & I thought about it for awhile & finally I said, Because human beings get mixed up easier than dogs & plants & fishes. What if you're someone who doesn't get mixed up? he said. Go ahead & lie, I said & then I hit him with a pillow just because I knew he was thinking about doing that anyway.

I need someone to invent a mirror that leaves out some of the details, she said.

My new rules for living simply (continued) 4. Get a uniform. I like t-shirts & pajama bottoms. This is my sleep uniform. This is how my life works. You may need a different uniform for the way your life works. When you find a piece of clothing you like, buy 6 more. This way you have one for every day of the week. Tell everyone you know that's what you did. Tell them it's your uniform. That way you don't have to change every day. Most people just assume you're putting on clean clothes. But, really, you only have to change if you get food on yourself, or if you start to stink

I'm thinking of going to school, he said to us, so I can meet some new people. You know me too well to appreciate how much I suffer any more.

Is convinced there's something we can learn from the animals, but so far all she can think of is that you should shut up when someone's got you on a leash.

She turned to me & whispered, don't you just love it when you get so excited you forget to breathe? & the thought of her smiling eyes still makes me laugh.

relaxing in short bursts in the sun because she forgot to sunscreen

everybody's dancing in place because they don't want to mess up the house since it just got cleaned

Things to know about the future. #1: It doesn't have to look any particular way, but around here, if it doesn't, a lot of people will never speak to you again

I read a story once about someone who went around trading people's troubles for any new ones they wanted & in the end, they decided to keep the ones they had already & all I could think was, Come on, people, use your brains for once

good at delegating anxiety so nobody sleeps all that well around here

I still remember the day the world took you back & there was never time to thank you for the thousand scattered moments you left behind to watch us while we slept.

It's not a personal world, he told me, no matter how much of it recognizes you on the street.

I predict the future a lot, she said to me, & I'm never surprised when I'm right, but that's because knowing it all has been one of my issues from the very beginning

this guy's head is on fire, but it wouldn't be so bad if he didn't keep fanning it when it starts to die out

It is still so new & all we see is the empty space, but that is not how it is in the landscape of the heart. There, there is no empty space & she still laughs & grapples with ideas & plans & nods wisely with each of us in turn. We are proud to have known her. We are proud to have called her friend.

You don't have to be a bundle of contradictions to be a woman, she said. But we all agreed it helps

It gets real cluttered in here when everybody talks at once, she said

I carry you with me into the world,

into the smell of rain

& the words that dance between people

& for me, it will always be this way,

walking in the light,

remembering being alive together

This is a machine that guarantees it can keep teenagers interested in the world around them & while a lot of people are showing up to check it out, you'll notice not a lot of them are teenagers.

I used to hate birthdays, she told me, until I figured out I was the Queen of the Universe & now I do them for the little people.

Once she told me she was an ocean person & when she combed her fingers through the seaweed she heard the songs of the mermaids & it was easy to believe all the old stories.

I try not to get too close, he said. From a distance almost everything looks real.

this is a picture of the future & you'll notice that there's a lot of blank space because people haven't made up their minds about it & the future doesn't have a lot of time for that kind of indecisiveness

it is enough to be taken care of by myself.

All quotes from StoryPeople

“Destiny? there’s only your time & then there’s not your time, she said. All the rest is made up to keep you busy”

“she’s a self-playing accordian & even when she’s asleep, her quiet breathing goes a-one & a-two”

“this is a dress-up box for the future & it’s filled with stuff like courage & love & play because they’re the only things that are any use at all when you get Right down to it.”

“knows most everything worth knowing but has stayed close to home just in case that changes”

“There are days I drop words of comfort on myself like falling rain & remember it is enough to be taken care of by myself.”

“getting ready to jump as high as she can just because there’s only so long you can sit politely & listen while people talk about any old stuff that comes into their heads”

"hoping there'll be time for a future he likes, but pretty well settled on the future he's got already."

"If I ran the world, he told me, I'd pretty much leave it alone & spend my time reading & I'd advise other people to do the same. Which is why I'll probably never run the world, he said"

"This is a special bike that's not very good at listening to excuses, so it takes you exactly where you really want to go & if you kick & scream it makes you pedal harder & go up steeper hills until you're too out of breath to complain & after awhile, if you're lucky, you start to see that it doesn't really matter if you laugh or cry, because it just wants to ride like the wind"

I don't really have any secrets.

She held her grief behind her eyes like an ocean and when she leaned forward into the day it spilled onto the floor and she wiped at it quickly with her foot and pretended no one had seen.

I don't really have any secrets, she told me once. I just forget a lot of stuff.

There are things I refuse to show you, my mirror told me. You've got enough to worry about already.

I mainly want someone to tell me I'm right & then pay me, he said. Is that too much to ask? & I said as long as you're living in a dream world, you might as well make it work for you.

I don't have a choice but I still choose you.

"It's not how old you are, it's how you are old."

--Jules Renard

If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else's, we'd grab ours back.

I'm the sort of person that's always dwelling on the destination rather than the journey. Even when I'm in a great situation... there's always this moving thought that it is all going to have to end.

This is a blank map that lets you go as far as you want in any direction, with no questions asked, but it's no help at all if you want to know if you're going the right way.

--Story People

"It's about how you're like a lighthouse, always searching far into the distance. But the thing you're looking for is usually close to you and always has been. That's why you have to look within yourself to find answers instead of searching beyond."

--Susane Colasanti, 'Waiting For You'

"Time is God’s way of keeping everything from happening at once."

--Wynonna Judd

I wish you'd hold me when I turn my back

The less I give the more I get back

Oh your hands can heal, your hands can bruise

I don't have a choice but I still choose you

--The Civil Wars, Poison & Wine

Look for the dream that keeps coming back. It is your destiny.

"Probably the closest things to perfection are the huge absolutely empty holes that astronomers have recently discovered in space. If there’s nothing there, how can anything go wrong?"

--Richard Brautigan

"No one ever tells you that you’re never going to feel grown up."

--Saroyan

I still feel like you only know what you're doing after you've done it.

"It's no good pretending that any relationship has a future if your record collections disagree violently or if your favorite films wouldn't even speak to each other if they met at a party."

--Nick Hornby, 'High Fidelity'

"Go be that starving Artist you're afraid to be. Open up that journal and get poetic finally. Volunteer. Suck it up and travel. You were not born here to work and pay taxes. You were put here to be part of a vast organism to explore and create. Stop putting it off. The world has much more to offer than what's on 15 televisions at TGI Fridays. Take pictures. Scare people. Shake up the scene. Be the change you want to see in the world. You'll thank yourself for it."

--Jason Mraz

"I still love books. Nothing a computer can do can compare to a book. You can’t really put a book on the Internet. Three companies have offered to put books by me on the Net, and I said, ‘If you can make something that has a nice jacket, nice paper with that nice smell, then we’ll talk.’ All the computer can give you is a manuscript. People don’t want to read manuscripts. They want to read books. Books smell good. They look good. You can press it to your bosom. You can carry it in your pocket."

--Ray Bradbury

"He went down trying not to look long at her, as though she were the sun, but he saw her, as one sees the sun, without looking."

--Leo Tolstoy

"Here's to the few who forgive what you do, and the fewer who don't even care."

--Leonard Cohen

"There is a war between the ones who say there is a war and the ones who say there isn't."

--Leonard Cohen

"We are cups, constantly and quietly being filled. The trick is, knowing how to tip ourselves over and let the beautiful stuff out."

--Ray Bradbury

let’s go said he

not too far said she

what’s too far said he

where you are said she

--e. e. cummings

"People work too hard to figure out the meaning of their lives. Why ME, why NOW. The truth is, sometimes things don’t happen to you for a reason. Sometimes it’s just about being in the right place at the right time for someone else."

--Jodi Picoult

Today is the day to: dream of trips to Paris, listen to Simon & Garfunkle, Karen Ann, & Beth Orton, draw comics, celebrate, write letters, drink coffee, believe in more, read books, buy flowers, take a walk, take a compliment, eat fresh fruit, let go, kiss your boyfriend, love your cat, plan on a cupcake, think up new ideas, compliment your mom, rock out, stare at clouds, take polaroids, laugh out loud, make a list, turn off the computer, buy new shoes, shave your legs, talk to muses, feel GREAT, plan a trip, a dream, a way to take over the world, finish something that is still unfinished, believe you can DO IT ALL.

You want to keep the world the way it is. Every generation wants to be the last. Every generation hates the next trend in music they can't understand. We hate to give up those reigns of our culture. To find our own music playing in elevators.

When you least expected it, life surprises you.

The incredible history of my feelings and my thoughts could fill up a dozen leather-bound books. But the story of my life - my behavior, my actions - that’s a slim volume. I’ve always thought it would be terribly boring. What would be in it? Chapter One: My Childhood. I was born, I cried. Chapter Two: The Rest: I maintained myself.

--Wallace Shawn

"We live our lives, do whatever we do, and then we sleep — it’s as simple and ordinary as that. A few jump out of windows or drown themselves or take pills; more die by accident; and most of us, the vast majority, are slowly devoured by some disease or, if we’re very fortunate, by time itself. There’s just this for consolation: an hour here or there when our lives seem, against all odds and expectations, to burst open and give us everything we’ve ever imagined, though everyone knows these hours will inevitably be followed by others, far darker and more difficult. Still, we cherish the city, the morning; we hope, more than anything, for more. Heaven only knows why we love it so."

--Michael Cunningham

"The trouble with life isn't that there is no answer, it's that there are so many answers."

--Ruth Benedict

"I'm thinking that it might actually be possible for things to work out sometimes. Definitely not everything and maybe not the way you imagined. But sometimes, when you least expected it, life surprises you."

--Susane Colasanti, 'When It Happens'

"If there is no passion in your life, then have you ever really lived? Find your passion, whatever it may be. Become it, and let it become you, and you will find that great things will happen for you, to you, and because of you."

--T. Alan Armstrong

I mainly like life to be peaceful with a few loud noises thrown in to remind me to be grateful for the quiet I have.

--Story People

The real trick is knowing to stop before you get confused.

"I only do this until I get dizzy and then I lay down on my back and watch the clouds," she said. "It sounds simple but you won't believe how many people forget the second part."

"I'm on my way to the future," she said & I said, "But you're just sitting there listening" & she smiled & said, "It's harder than you'd think with all the noise everyone else is making."

When I first met her, I knew in a moment I'd have to spend the next few days re-arranging my mind so there'd be room for her to stay

I figured out that if I keep it up, someday I'll probably get wise enough to be silly in public but I probably won't wait that long.

"How hard is it to make stuff up?" she said. "Not hard at all," I said. The real trick is knowing to stop before you get confused.

The sound of what cannot be seen sings in everything that can & there is nothing more to it than that.

Sometimes it's hard to think above the noise.

"Never forget that once upon a time, in an unguarded moment, you recognized yourself as a friend."

--Elizabeth Gilbert, 'Eat Pray Love'

"People drain me, even the closest of friends, and I find loneliness to be the best state in the union to live in."

--Margaret Cho

"People who lead a lonely existence always have something on their minds that they are eager to talk about."

--Anton Checkov

"She always camouflaged herself as a crowd. I've never been lonely, she said, but sometimes it's hard to think above the noise."

--Story People

It's hardest to love the ordinary things.

All quotes from Story People

"I'm fastest," he said, "when I'm the one that gets to say go."

In those days, we finally chose to walk like giants & hold the world in arms grown strong with love & there may be many things we forget in the days to come, but this will not be one of them.

Whenever she stood in line at the bank, or while waiting for the bus, I noticed her feet. The right always in front & perpendicular to the left just so. Even after 2 children, she still dreamed of being a dancer.

"They only look small," she said, "if you're someone who's fond of being bigger than everyone else."

"I don't have many vices beyond caring what other people think," she said, "but that's a big one."

In her dream, she said she was a bird who fell asleep & dreamed she was a man who wore bright colors & treated women poorly & she asked all the other birds what it could mean & they all thought it was something in the air & everyone agreed how lucky they were to be birds & not men.

He told me that the night his mother died, there were storms & far away he saw purple lightning & someone left the window open & the room filled with a swirl of butterflies & she slipped out quietly without anyone noticing & I'm sure the grief was softer because of that.

"If we all jumped up & down at the same time," I said, "I'll bet we could move the world." She nodded. "I'd throw in five bucks toward it," she said, "just to see the old man get his butt off the couch."

"I still fly a lot in my dreams," she told us, "but I try to stay close to the ground. At my age, a fall can be pretty serious."

Whenever I go on a trip, I think about all the homes I've had & I remember how little has changed about what comforts me.

Can I count on you to be there, no matter what? she said & I said no & she said what kind of friend are you? & I said the kind who won't lie to you any time you want & I think she kept me around as a curiosity after that.

"I like people until they give me reason not to," she said. "Some days they just drop like flies, though," she added.

Everything changed the day she figured out there was exactly enough time for the important things in her life.

I'm not that good at being a tourist because I'm always looking at the way the light shines in your hair or the way your dress opens to the wind & my favorite places in the world are places filled with you.

"My favorite thing is the wind," she said, "& my second favorite is chocolate but I just do that so I don't get too skinny & blow away."

"What do I get for this?" I said & the angel gave me a catalog filled with toasters & clock radios & a basketball signed by Michael Jordan & I said, "But this is just stuff" & the angel smiled at me & swallowed me in her arms. "I'm so glad you said that," she whispered to me. "I knew you still had a chance."

I'm a good jumper, he said, but I'm not so good at landing. Maybe you should stay closer to the ground then, I said & he shook his head & said the ground was the whole problem in the first place.

I have seen him in Hawaiian shirts, she said, so there is nothing hidden between us.

She said you know what heaven is like? & I said I wasn't sure & she laughed & said grown-ups didn't know much at all about important stuff & I said I had to agree with her even though I was one of them myself.

I was never good at hide & seek because I'd always make enough noise so my friends would be sure to find me. I don't have anyone to play those games with any more, but now & then I make enough noise just in case someone is still looking & hasn't found me yet.

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 left pieces of her life behind her everywhere she went. It's easier to feel the sunlight without them, she said.

They left me with your shadow, saying things like Life is not fair & I believed them for a long time. But today, I remembered the way you laughed & the heat of your hand in mine & I knew that life is more fair than we can ever imagine if we are there to live it.

She kept asking if the stories were true. I kept asking her if it mattered. We finally gave up. She was looking for a place to stand & I wanted a place to fly.

This is a wheelbarrow I filled with all my dreams & my favorite clothes & now all I need is someone to help me push it.

There came a moment in the middle of the song when she suddenly felt every heartbeat in the room & after that she never forgot she was part of something much bigger.

"It's hardest to love the ordinary things," she said, "but you get lots of opportunities to practice."

All quotes from Story People

"I read once that the ancient Egyptians had fifty words for sand and the Eskimos had a hundred words for snow. I wish I had a thousand words for love, but all that comes to mind is the way you move against me while you sleep and there are no words for that."

"You're the strangest person I ever met," she said and I said, "you too" and we decided we'd know each other a long time.

"She said she usually cried at least once each day not because she was sad, but because the world was so beautiful and life was so short."

"Anyone can slay a dragon, but try waking up every morning and loving the world all over again. That's what takes a real hero."

"Time stands still best in moments that look suspiciously like ordinary life."

"I wish you could have been there for the sun and the rain and the long, hard hills. For the sound of a thousand conversations scattered along the road. For the people laughing and crying and remembering at the end. But, mainly, I wish you could have been there."

"If you hold on to the handle," she said, "it's easier to maintain the illusion of control. But it's more fun if you just let the wind carry you."

We lay there and looked up at the night sky and she told me about stars called blue squares and red swirls and I told her I'd never heard of them. "Of course not," she said, "the really important stuff they never tell you. You have to imagine it on your own."

"I have too much to lose," she said, "if I cross that line." "Like what?" I said. She could not think of anything that day so she said she'd get back to me. Since then I've been thinking what I would lose if I cross my line and I haven't come up with anything either. There's always another line somewhere.

"Most people don't know there are angels whose only job is to make sure you don't get too comfortable and fall asleep and miss your life."

"They came to sit and dangle their feet off the edge of the world and after awhile they forgot everything but the good and true things they would do someday."

"I spent a long time trying to find my center until I looked closely at it one night and found it had wheels and moved easily in the slightest breeze. So now I spend less time sitting and more time sailing."

In my dream, the angel shrugged and said, "If we fail this time, it will be a failure of imagination," and then she placed the world gently in the palm of my hand.

"Feels like some kind of ride but it's turning out just to be life going absolutely perfectly."

"I once had a garden filled with flowers that grew only on dark thoughts, but they need constant attention and one day I decided I had better things to do."

"He loved her for almost everything she was and she decided that was enough to let him stay for a very long time."

A few said they'd be horses. Most said they'd be some sort of cat. My friend said she'd like to come back as a porcupine. "I don't like crowds," she said.

"Trapped mainly by wanting things to be exactly as they are, only better."

"I'm not sure if there's one right place I'm supposed to be," he said, "but I know a couple of wrong places I'd give a second try in a heartbeat."

"I don't really like coffee," she said, "but I don't really like it when my head hits my desk when I fall asleep either."

"This is a giant block of whatever is most difficult for you to carry, and trust me on this, you'll carry it more times than you can count until you decide that's exactly what you want to do most and then it won't weigh a thing anymore."

"If you were smart, you'd probably spend more time stretching," he said and I said, "If I were really smart, I'd probably spend more time just sitting in the shade drinking lemonade."

"If you're right and I'm not, I'm going to be hell to live with," she said. "So, you better think about that next time you want to be right."

"Waiting for the pen to dry up so he can start fresh with thoughts that are worth new ink."

"There are your fog people and your sun people," he said. I said I wasn't sure which kind I was. He nodded. "Fog'll do that to you," he said.

"She is willing to accept that she creates her own reality, except for some of the parts where she can't help but wonder what the hell she was thinking."