Gestating characters feels something like the mental equivalent of gestating a baby. In both cases, to create them you lose yourself. Or at least you reshape yourself to encompass them. Ann Brashares More Quotes by Ann Brashares More Quotes From Ann Brashares It’s natural to overlook and even sacrifice the things that belong to us most easily most gracefully. So here’s me asking you to please not make that mistake. Ann Brashares sacrifice asking mistake She loved her mother and depended on her mother, and yet every single word her mother said annoyed her. Ann Brashares annoyed mother said She got under the covers and put her arms around the bag. She could smell Tibby. It used to be she couldn't smell Tibby's smell in the way you couldn't smell your own; it was too familiar. But tonight she could. This was some living part of Tibby still here and she held on to it. There was more of Tibby with her here and now than in what she had seen in the cold basement room that day. Ann Brashares bags smell tonight Their friendship was only one aspect of their lives but it seemed to give meaning to all the others. Ann Brashares aspect giving They needed to grieve alone was what Tibby's dad said. Lena wondered if really there was any choice in that. Everyone grieved alone. Ann Brashares dad choices grieving I'm writing this down, because it is going to be hard for me to say it. Because this is probably our last time just us. See, I can write that down, but I don't think I can say it. I'm not doing this to say goodbye, though I know that has to be part of it. I'm doing it to thank you for all we have had and done and been for one another, to say I love you for making this life of mine what it is. Leaving you is the hardest thing I have to do. But the thing is, the best parts of me are in you, all three of you. You are who I am, and what I cherish in myself stays on in you. Ann Brashares love-you writing goodbye He took her in his arms right away. "I'm so sorry," he murmured in her ear. He rocked her, saying it over and over. But no matter how many times he said it, no matter how much she knew he meant it, the words stirred around in her ear but didn't get into her brain. Sometimes he could comfort her. Sometimes he said what she needed, but today he couldn't reach her. Nothing could. Ann Brashares sorry comfort brain It was probably good you couldn't flip the love switch because sometimes it was what you needed even if you didn't want it. Ann Brashares flip want sometimes But will he come I just want to know what you think the odds are. Tell me what you really think." "I think Tibby was a wise girl. I think she loved you. Ann Brashares girl wise thinking So far, she’d been her usual lame self: solitary and routine-loving, carefully avoiding any path that might lead to spontaneous human interaction. Lena Kaligaris Ann Brashares routine usual self I’m sorry you asked me out, otherwise maybe I could have liked you. Ann Brashares im-sorry sorry I told him, though, that he better be good to you. When you came along, I said I'd share you, but I told him to remember that you're my sister. I loved you first. Ann Brashares my-sister remember firsts I mean putting yourself out there in the way of overwhelming happiness and knowing you're also putting yourself in the way of terrible harm. I'm scared to be this happy. I'm scared to be this extreme. Ann Brashares knowing mean way She'd cried over a broken heart before. She knew what that felt like, and it didn't feel like this. Her heart felt not so much broken as just ... empty. It felt like she was an outline empty in the middle. The outline cried senselessly for the absent middle. The past cried for the present that was nothing. Ann Brashares empty broken-heart past She got tired of herself. She got tired of not being able to say what she wanted or do what she wanted or even want what she wanted. Ann Brashares tired able want Carmen didn't like change, and she certainly didn't like endings. Ann Brashares She wasn't as destructive as Bee. She had never been as dramatic. Rather, she'd slipped carefully, stealthily away from her ghosts. Ann Brashares dramatic ghost bees The word friends doesn't seem to stretch big enough to describe how we feel about each other. We forget where one of us starts and the other one stops. Ann Brashares bigs enough forget It was funny to hear her voice aloud. Her thoughts and perceptions usually existed so deep inside her, they rarely made it to the surface without a deliberate effort. Ann Brashares effort voice perception Some things have to be believed to be seen. -Ralph Hodgson Ann Brashares belief
