Holly Goldberg Sloan

“For him and his brother, he now knew, that music was real. Becuase all you had to do, really, was be willing to use your imagination. And listen.”

“It was possible that he was making some progress in his mental health condition by seeing me.”

“Dysphagia is the medical term for not being able to swallow, and I know that there are two kinds of dysphagia: oropharyngeal and esophageal. But maybe there is also a third kind of dysphagia that comes when your heart breaks into pieces. I can't swallow because I have that kind.”

“I somehow make it through the first month. I dress and brush my teeth when they tell me to. And I experience the hollow feeling of complete loss, which is emptiness.”

“Appleblossom can't believe the taste of the dark square. Is tehre a way to describe this morsel of goodness? It is so sweet adn smooth. It makes a green snail seem like an old pinecone seed, and every possum knows that a green snail is fantastic eating.”

“I made a note to talk to him about soft drinks. Those beverages are not healthy.from counting by 7s (not listed in drop-down)”

“She said they needed to put down a real root system to achieve their potential”

“But being a brother or a sister (if you are lucky enough) is the role of a lifetime.”

“For someone grieving, moving forward is the challenge. Because after extreme loss, you want to go back.”

“It would look pretty messed up to be a social worker and have dried kid blood as a permanent stain in your vehicle.”

“At least it's working out because Cheddar is sort of obsessed with me, or at least very interested, which in the world of felines counts as obsessive behavior.”

“[T]he deepest form of pain comes out as silence.”

“This is why the deepest form of pain comes out as silence.”

“Only in cartoons and fairy tales and greeting cards do endings have glitter”

“Pattie saw grief. Her eyes focused on a version of her own young self, and so many other children in Vietnam who grew up without parents, some abandoned because of their ethnicity, others because of tragedy. And her arms reached out wide.”

“Thanks, Mom. Thanks for making me try out for this play.'I think I might have just made being a mother totally worthwhile for her.I will try to never forget her face...Mom's got tears in her eyes and she's smiling. It's an amazing look.I have to remember how powerful it can be to say thank you.Especially to the people you live with.”

“I cut all my words out. My heart was too full of them.”

“I force myself to think of anything but the one thing that I'm actually always thinking about. And that is so exhausting that I sleep more than I ever have.”