Quotes from Brian Andreas

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

Quiet Prayer: As long as the sun shall rise goes the old lovers vow. But we are children of a scientific age & have no time for poetry. Still, I offer a quiet prayer of thanks for the sunlight each time I see your face.

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

Side by Side: We sat side by side in the morning light & looked out at the future together.

Ten Commandments: I asked her why she never told us about the Ten Commandments & she said she wasn't ever that good with numbers so she loved everything as best she could & I remember thinking who needs all those rules anyway with a mother like her around.

Permanence: Just because they die, she said, doesn't mean they go away.

Quiet Spaces We had gone far enough together to listen easily in the quiet spaces.

Hoping to Fall Out: Leaning out as far as she can, hoping she'll fall soon, so she can stop worrying about whether it will happen or not.

Almost Beyond: She laid on my chest & her breathing filled me almost to beyond what I could hold.

My grandmother used to say life was so much easier when you were simple-minded. It's taken me almost my whole life to understand what she meant.

She told me once that the year she went to England she painted her buttons yellow so she would remember what the sun felt like.

Treasures: The most important thing you leave behind is the stuff that turns into treasures when children find it.

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

Season of Joy: She asked me when the season of joy was supposed to end & I said I didn't really think there was an exact date, so we left the tree up till June that year.

Invention: I always wanted to invent something that would move around & make funny noises & would change the world as we know it & I forgot all about that until we had kids & now I see I came pretty close.

Last Minute: I have to buy all my presents at the last minute, she said, or I get too excited & just give them away.

I buried a nickel under the porch when I was 8, she said, but one day my grandma died & they sold the house & I never got to go back for it. A nickel used to mean something, I said. She nodded. It still does, she said & then she started to cry.

Such Small Things: For a long time there were only your footprints & laughter in our dreams & even from such small things, we knew we could not wait to love you forever.

Scraps of Magic: These are little scraps of magic & when you paste them together you get a memory of something fine & strong, she said. Sometimes it takes till you're 40 to see it though.

When she played her music even the night demons stopped their work & it took them some time to remember what it was they were doing & the best of them had no stomach for it for a long time after that.

These are the multiple shadows because there were a lot of things she walked away from without a word of explanation when she was younger & she still thinks about them more than she needs to.

The Whole World: My favorite thing is being your lap while we sit there together & love the whole world.

Brian Andreas Promise #1: Promises to Myself #1: I will tell the truth unless I get confused & I think I could get in real trouble if someone found out, in which case, I will lie as convincingly as possible for as long as I feel the need.

When I was 5, he said, my family forgot & left me at the fair. I wandered around in the bright sounds & smells of hot sawdust & cotton candy for hours. It was already too late by the time my parents found me. I haven't been fit for decent society since.