Jamie Ford

“The hardest choices in life aren't between what's right and what's wrong but between what's right and what's best.”

“Some things just can't be put back together. Some things can never be fixed. Two broken pieces can't make a lot of anything anymore. But at least he had the broken pieces.”

“The last time someone had laid out a suit and a pair of dress shoes with a ticket purchased for a faraway place, Henry had refused to go.This time, Henry refused to stay.”

“Home is a fairy tale, the kind where children are lost in the woods, found, cooked and eaten.”

“The waitress brought a fresh pot of tea, and Marty refilled his father’s cup and poured a cup for Samantha. Henry in turn filled Marty’s. It was a tradition Henry cherished—never filling your own cup, always filling that of someone else, who would return the favor.”

“He'd do what he always did, find the sweet among the bitter.”

“He'd learned long ago: perfection isn't what families are all about.”

“A young nurse, someone new whom he didn't recognise, came up to Henry and patted him on the arm. "Are you a friend or a family member?" She whispered the question in his ear, trying not to disturb Sheldon. The question hung there like a beautiful chord, ringing in the air. Henry was Chinese, Sheldon obviously wasn't. They looked nothing alike. Nothing at all. "I'm distant family," Henry said.”

“I had my chance.' He said it, retiring from a lifetime of wanting. 'I had my chance, and sometimes in life, there are no second chances. You look at what you have, not what you miss, and you move forward.”

“He was awed at her touch and what the human heart is capable of feeling - such sadness, such shame, but such acceptance such joy, all at the same time.”

“You don't have to, Henry. In here, I think my dream is big enough for the both of us.”

“As you play this record, I hope you'll think of the good, not the bad. Of what was, not what wasn't meant to be. Of the time we spent together, not the time we've spent apart. Most of all I hop you'll think of me...”

“The library is like a candy store where everything is free.”

“Hope can get you through anything.”

“Talking to strangers sounded like talking to no one, which Henry had some firsthand experience in- in real life. It was lonely. Almost as lonely as Lake View Cemetery, where he'd buried Ethel.”