hlsteed:
"When they met the first time, he said he had a brown thumb because all his plants kept dying & she laughed & would not give him her number."
hlsteed:
He built fences of whole boxes of toothpicks because he didn't have enough money for redwood. I know it's small, he said, but I don't want everybody just thinking they can walk right in & some day, it'll be bigger. Fences take practice for everyone.
hlsteed:
Thinking the sea is good for not thinking & for some reason, this is as far as he gets...
hlsteed:
these are multi-purpose wings & when she's not flying they accessorize nicely with almost anything she wears
hlsteed:
"My grandfather used to come home from work & he'd stomp twice on the porch with his big boots & he'd say, It's time to be afraid...
hlsteed:
"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 "
hlsteed:
"When I grow up, I want to remember that I always wanted to be about a thousand different things & one lifetime didn't seem nearly enough. When I grow up, I hope it's at the very end when it doesn't matter anymore anyway"
hlsteed:
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.
hlsteed:
"acting like a lizard on a rock in the sunshine with the added evolutionary advantage of SPF-30"
hlsteed:
he followed the sun & she followed the stars & in dreams they listened closely for the beginning of all things, for that was where they knew they'd find each other
hlsteed:
"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."
hlsteed:
"The first time her laughter unfurled its wings in the wind, we knew that the world would never be the same."
hlsteed:
Day 21. "spent a lot of time when she was younger practicing walking around completely in the dark, so she figures she's probably pretty well prepared for adulthood."
hlsteed:
Day 18. "torn between wanting to stay & wanting to go & worried it will be the wrong decision either way."
hlsteed:
Day 16. running wildly into the spring wind chasing down all the dandelions before they turn into just weeds in a couple of years.
hlsteed:
Day 3...It was a strange dream, he said, & I don't remember a thing except it kept my attention the whole time.
hlsteed:
My favorite holidays are Christmas & disco, he said & I said since when is disco a holiday? & he looked at me with more pity than I thought possible.
hlsteed:
I've always liked the time before dawn because there's no one around to remind me who I'm supposed to be, so it's easier to remember who I am.
hlsteed:
"Most people she never tells about the tightrope because she doesn't want to listen to their helpful comments from the ground."
hlsteed:
"carries a lot of suitcases but all of them are empty because she's expecting to completely fill them with life by the end of this trip & then she'll come home & sort everything out & do it all again"
hlsteed:
Hard to impress because she's already seen the sun rise today & it doesn't get much better than that.