Quotes from Brian Andreas

I'm an outsider by choice, she said, but I'm hoping that won't be my choice forever.

she tapped her finger and nothing happened and she thought she had lost her magic, but it had only changed and it took her awhile to figure it out.

Why do they treat us like children? they said & I said why do you treat them like adults? & their eyes opened wide & they began to laugh & talk all at once & suddenly everything looked possible again.

Hoping something will happen soon, so she can sit down & watch it with a fresh bowl of popcorn.

Secret Notes: He wrote secret notes to people he hadn't met yet. Some of them aren't even born, he said, but we live in a strange neighborhood & they will need help figuring things out & I won't always be around to explain it to them.

That was the day the ancient songs of blood and war spilled from a hole in the sky And there was a long moment as we listened and fell silent in our grief and then one by one, we stood tall and came together and began to sing of life and love and all that is good and true And I will never forget that day when the ancient songs died because there was no one in the world to sing them.

One Child: I hope it will be said we taught them to stand tall & proud, even in the face of history & the future was made new & whole for us all, one child at a time.

One time I was standing on a corner in Chicago & a man stopped his car & asked for directions to a place I knew & I said that's too easy, ask me something harder & he yelled & said he wasn't playing games kid & then he drove off & I think about him sometimes & wonder if he ever got there.

Songs to Herself: She waved at all the people on the trains & later, when she saw they didn't wave back, she started singing songs to herself & it went that way the whole day & she couldn't remember having a better time in her life.

Perfect Day: It was a day filled with the glow of ordinary things & we passed them quietly from hand to hand for a long time & someone said she had picked a perfect day to be born & I think all of us felt the same.

Scent: When she wore the hat, even many years later, she could always smell her mother's perfume & it was hard to remember she was supposed to be alone.

finally has figured out there aren't enough quiet little British films around to protect her from the real world

even after all these winters, I see you sitting there, perched at the edge of sunlight, feeling like the invitation of spring

I used to wait for a sign, she said, before I did anything. Then one night I had a dream & an angel in black tights came to me & said, you can start any time now, & then I asked is this a sign? & the angel started laughing & I woke up. Now, I think the whole world is filled with signs, but if there's no laughter, I know they're not for me.

Resorting to connecting the dots this morning because it was a long night & he needs to do something really simple to get started again.

Empty Spaces: After his father died he carried his life more gently & left an empty space for the birds & other creatures.

She waved at all the people on the train & later, when she saw they didn't wave back, she started singing songs to herself & it went that way the whole day & she couldn't remember having a better time in her life.

Had a long night last night on the other side of the world so he's having a hard time this morning letting his light shine

This used to be a mean monster until he got sick one winter with the flu & stayed in bed & watched too much Little House on the Prairie & now the littlest thing & he starts to cry.

Bits of the World: gathering up bits of the world & setting them out in an order that her children can understand

Aerobics: 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.

What are the rules? I said & he said you run & you run & you run until you fall over. There's a couple others in there for variety, he added, but that's the main one.

When I die, she said, I am coming back as a tree with deep roots and I'll wave my leaves to the children every morning on their way to school & whisper tree songs at night in their dreams. Trees with deep roots know about the things that children need.

Today all I could remember was the way your body held the ocean of myself & for one moment there was only one us in all creation.