Once Again, I Don’t Quite Know Where I’m Headed Steph. It Seems That Every Few Years I’m Shoveling Up The Pieces Of My Life And Starting From Scratch All Over. No Matter What I Do Or How Hard I Try I Can’t Seem To Reach The Dizzy Heights Of Happiness, Success, And Security, Like So Many People Do. And I’m Not Talking About Becoming A Millionaire And Living Happily Ever After. I Just Mean Reaching A Point In My Life That I Can Stop What I’m Doing, Take A Look Around Me, Breathe A Sigh Of Relief, And Think “i’m Where I Want To Be Now.

-Cecelia Ahern

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Once Again, I Don’t

Cecelia Ahern

Topic

Mean

Thinking

Sigh Of Relief

More From Cecelia Ahern

There Aren’t Many Sure Things In Life, But One Thing I Know For Sure Is That You Have To Deal With The Consequences Of Your Actions. You Have To Follow Through On Some Things.

Things In Life

Action

Follow Through

Time Cannot Be Packaged And Ribboned And Left Under Trees For Christmas Morning.time Can't Be Given.but It Can Be Shared

Morning

Generosity

Tree

Sometimes, People Can Go Missing Right Before Our Very Eyes.sometimes, People Can Discover You, Even Though They've Been Looking At You The Entire Time. Sometimes, We Lose Sight Of Ourselves When We're Not Paying Enough Attention.

Eye

Sight

People

She Strived For Perfection. She Loved Setting Herself Tasks, Sometimes Impossible Ones, To Prove To Her Heart That Underneath Every Seemingly Ugly Thing There Was Something Beautiful Inside.

Beautiful

Heart

Ugly Things

There Is No Advice That I Can Give You, You Will Just Have To Trust Yourself That When The Time Comes, You'll Make The Right Decision.

Giving

Decision

Advice

Holly's Theory About The Army," Sharon Explained. And What Is It?" Denise Asked, Intrigued. Oh, That Fighting For Peace Is Like Screwing For Virginity.

Fighting

Army

Hollies

Don't Mind All Those People Who Say That You Should Be Back To Normal In A Month Or Two. Grieving Is All Part Of Helping Yourself Anyway.

Grieving

Two

People

I Had A Million Plans. I Knew What I Was Going To Do. I Had The Next Few Years Of My Life All Figured Out. But What I Didn’t Know Was That Within A Few Hours All Those Plans Would Change. Ms. Know-it-all Didn’t Quite Know It All So Much Then.

Years

Know It All

We Have A Tendency To Put Ourselves Last, We Concentrate On Everything Else; Work, Friends, Family, Home Issues, But We Ignore The Deeper Stuff Until It Becomes So Compressed That It Can Explode.

Home

Issues

Stuff

They Say A Story Loses Something With Each Telling.

Stories

Loses

On The Other Hand, She Was A Women With A Million Happy Memories, Who Knew What It Was Like To Experience True Love And Who Was Ready To Experience More Life, More Love And Make New Memories. Whether It Happened In Ten Months Or Ten Years, Holly Would Obey Gerry's Final Message. Whatever Lay Ahead, She Knew She Would Open Her Heart And Follow Where It Led. In The Meantime, She Would Just Live.

Love

Memories

Heart

I Generally Don’t Become Overexcited About Things Anyway, I’m Just Not One Of Those People. I’m Not Easily Surprised By Things Either. I Think It’s Because I Expect That Anything Can Happen

Thinking

People

Anything Can Happen

You Know, Sarcasm Is The Lowest Form Of Wit.' 'and Yet It Is Still Extremely Funny.

Sarcasm

Extremely Funny

Form

Sometimes We Have Absolutely No Idea Where We Are, We Need The Smallest Clue To Show Us Where To Begin.

Ideas

Needs

Sometimes

We Said We Would Meet Again But We Made No Arrangements. Not Out Of Any Bad Feeling Between Us, But Because I Felt It Had All Been Said, Or Not Said But Understood, And She Probably Did Too. To Know She Was There Was Enough, And For Her To Know I Was Around Was Probably Too. Sometimes That's All People Ever Really Need. Just To Know.

People

Feelings

Needs

Somewhere Along The Way, Without Me Even Noticing, I Grew Up Alex. For Once, I Couldn’t Take Advice From Anyone Around Me About What I Should Or Shouldn’t Do. I Couldn’t Go Running To Mum And Dad And I Can’t Compare My Marriage To Anybody Else’s, We All Follow Our Own Rules.

Running

Dad

Advice

She Didn't Feel Thirty. But Then Again Again, What Was Being Thirty Supposed To Feel Like? When She Was Younger, Thirty Seemed So Far Away, She Thought That A Woman Of That Age Would Be So Wise And Knowledgeable, So Settled In Her Life With A Husband And Children And A Career. She Had None Of Those Things. She Still Felt As Clueless As She Had Felt When She Was Twenty, Only With A Few More Gray Hairs And Crow's Feet Around Her Eyes.

Wise

Children

Husband

Slow Down. Stop Trying To Do Everything Now, Now, Now. Hold Up The People Behind You For All You Care, Feel Them Kicking At Your Heels But Maintain Your Pace. Don't Let Anybody Dictate Your Speed.

Oh, That Fighting For Peace Is Like Screwing For Virginity.

Peace

Fighting

Foxholes

The Important Thing Is Not What We Look Like, But The Role We Play In Our Best Friend’s Life. Friends Choose Certain Friends Because That’s The Kind Of Company They Are Looking For At That Specific Time, Not Because They’re The Correct Height, Age, Or Have The Right Hair Color

Hair

Color

Play

Now Let Me Teach You Another Thing About My Daughter. I Love Her Very Much But She Has The Ability To Hide As Expertly As A Sock In A Washing Machine. No One Knows Where It Goes, Just As No One Knows Where She Goes, But At Least When She Decides To Come Back, We're All Here, Waiting For Her.

Daughter

Waiting

Machines

Life Is Funny Isn’t It? Just When You Think You’ve Got It All Figured Out, Just When You Finally Begin To Plan Something, Get Excited About Something, And Feel Like You Know What Direction You’re Heading In, The Paths Change, The Signs Change, The Wind Blows The Other Way, North Is Suddenly South, And East Is West, And You’re Lost. It Is So Easy To Lose Your Way, To Lose Direction. And That’s With Following All The Signposts

Change

Blow

Thinking

I Just Need To Do Something New.... I've Got The Big Remote Control Of Life In My Hands, And I'm Ready To Start Pushing Some Buttons.

Change

Hands

Buttons

I Can Only Assume That There’s Only One Thing More Frustrating Than Not Being Able To Find Someone, And That’s Not Being Found. I Would Want Someone To Find Me, More Than Anything.

Want

Able

Assuming

Our Life Is Made Up Of Time; Our Days Are Measured In Hours, Our Pay Measured By Those Hours, Our Knowledge Is Measured By Years. We Grab A Few Quick Minutes In Our Busy Day To Have A Coffee Break. We Rush Back To Our Desks, We Watch The Clock, We Live By Appointments. And Yet Your Time Eventually Runs Out And You Wonder In Your Heart Of Hearts If Those Seconds, Minutes, Hours, Days, Weeks, Months, Years And Decades Were Being Spent The Best Way They Possibly Could. In Other Words, If You Could Change Anything, Would You?

Life

Running

Coffee

As The Rain Falls And The Sun Shines, They Grow, Grow, Grow; Minds So Open, They Go Through Life Aware And Accepting, Seeing Light Where There's Dark, Seeing Possibility In Dead Ends, Tasting Victory As Others Spit Out Failure, Questioning Where Others Accept. Just A Little Less Jaded, A Little Less Cynical.

Fall

Rain

Dark

She Wanted To Be Irresponsible, She Wanted To Be Looked After, To Be Told That She Didn't Have To Worry About A Thing And That Someone Else Would Take Care Of Everything. How Easy Life Would Be Without Having Grown-up Problems To Worry About. And Then She Could Grow Up All Over Again.

Growing Up

Worry

Would Be

Every Single Time You Crossed Over For Me And Met Me On My Side. I Realize Now, I Don't Think I Ever Met You In The Middle. And I Don't Think I Ever Once Said That You For That.

Thinking

Sides

Realizing

Every Single Ordinary Person Has An Extraordinary Story.

Ordinary

Stories

Persons

Aim For What U Want And The Year Will All Make A Sense.

Years

Want

Aim

I Make It Easier For People To Leave By Making Them Hate Me A Little.

Goodbye

Hate

People

There Are Certain Kinds Of Silence That Make You Walk On Air.

Air

Silence

Kind

She Couldn't Remember The Last Time She Hugged Someone, Really Hugged Someone.

Lasts

Remember

Last Time

Sometimes There Is Only One Thing Left To Say, P. S. I Love You.

Love You

Sometimes

Left

I Lost My Dad. He Lost His Tomorrows And I Lost All The Tomorrows With Him. You Could Say That Now, I Appreciate Them When They Come. Now, I Want To Make Them The Best They Can Possibly Be.

Dad

Appreciate

Want

What A Luxury It Was For People To Hold Their Loved Ones Whenever They Wanted

Luxury

People

Romance

People Who Say Its A Long Story, Mean It's A Stupid Short One That They Are Too Embarrassed And Couldn't Be Bothered To Tell

Stupid

Mean

Long

Well I Think Its Quite Obvious That If You're Going To Rely On Something To Carry Your Wishes, You Might As Well Know Where Exactly It Has Come From And Where It Intends On Going

Thinking

Wish

Might

Write What's Up There." Sister Ignatius Pointed At Her Temple. "as A Great Man Once Said, This Is A Secret Garden. We've All Got One Of Those." "jesus?" "no, Bruce Springsteen.

Jesus

Writing

Men

She Was Tired Of Hugging Pillows, Counting On Blankets For Warmth, And Reliving Romantic Moments Only In Her Dreams. She Was Tired Of Hoping That Every Day Would Hurry So She Could Get On To The Next. Hoping That It Would Be A Better Day, An Easier Day. But It Never Was. Worked, Paid The Bills, And Went To Bed But Never Slept. Each Morning The Weight On Her Shoulders Got Heavier And Heavier And Each Morning She Wished For Night To Fall Quickly So She Could Return To Her Bed To Hug Her Pillows And Wrap Herself In The Warmth Of Her Blankets.

Love

Dream

Morning

How Else Do You Think Life Happens? A Series Of Coincidences And Occurrences Have To Happen Somehow. Our Lives All Crash And Collide And You Think There's No Reason Or Rhyme To It? If There Wasn't Any Reason For It All, What Would Be The Point? Why Do You Think Anything Happens At All? There Is An Outcome, Repercussions And Occurrences To Everybody You Meet And Everything You Say.

Thinking

Would Be

Outcomes

One Must Not Speak Of Such Things. One Is Still Scarred From That Experience.

Speak

Stills

I Don't Know Why, But There's Always The Part Of You, The Part That Hides In The Shadows Protecting The Self-destruct Button, That Doesn't Ever Want To Leave The Dark Behind.

Dark

Self

Shadow

To New Beginnings. To The Pursuit Of...somethingness.

New Beginnings

Pursuit

That Was All Part Of Giving Someone A Piece Of Your Heart; They Ended Up Taking A Whole Chunk Of Your Mind And Reserving It All For Themselves.

Heart

Giving

Mind

I'm Most Happy When I Am Writing At Night, Because I Need Space And Time To Write.

Writing

Night

Space

Every Small Thing Grows When You Nurture It, Rosie. Love Is Just The Same. But If That Is Making You Miserable Then, Leave And Find Something Else That Brings You Happiness You Deserve To Feel.

Love Is

Miserable

Rosie

There's A Fine Line Between Love And Hate.love Frees A Soul And In The Same Breath Can Sometimes Suffocate It.

Hate

Soul

Lines

We're So Arrogant, Aren't We? So Afraid Of Age, We Do Everything We Can To Prevent It. We Don't Realize What A Privilege It Is To Grow Old With Someone. Someone Who Doesn't Drive You To Commit Murder Or Doesn't Humiliate You Beyond Repair.

I Love You

Age

Arrogant

I'm Never Overwhelmed Or Under It Either; Just Nicely Whelmed. I'm Ok. Nothing Spectacular But Sometimes Special. I Look In The Mirror And See This Medium Average Person. A Little Tired, A Little Sad, But Not Falling Apart.

Fall

Tired

Average

He Tried To Tell Me Week After Week To Accept Things As They Were And Move On With My Life. But If There Was One Man Who Had Put His Life On Hold To Wait For Something Or Someone, It Was Him.

Moving

Men

Waiting

But Where Pain Was, Healing Could Come; Where Loneliness Was, New Relationships Could Be Formed; Where Rejection Was, New Love Could Be Found. It Was A Moment. And Moments Changed. She Would Have To Live Through The Moment To Get To The Next.

Pain

Loneliness

Healing

We Had Come Here To Have A Break From Thoughts And The Hard Work That Came With The Constant Interaction With Idiots. Or At Least People We Considered Idiots Because They Were Not Mind Readers And We Had To, Patiently, Use Polite Words To Explain Things That We Were Thinking When Really Inside We Were Fighting The Urge To Take Their Heads In Our Hands And Softly And Repeatedly Thud Their Foreheads Off The Wall.

Wall

Hard Work

Fighting

Deep Down, Underneath All His Layers Of Stupidity, He’s A Really Good Man. He May Act Out Far Too Many Selfish Thoughts, Says All The Wrong Things At All The Wrong Times, But Behind Closed Doors He’s A Best Friend. I Understand That He Has Idiotic Tendencies And I Can Still Love Him For It. He May Not Be Someone That You Feel Comfortable Sitting Next To At A Dinner Party But For Me, He’s Someone That I Feel Comfortable Sharing My Life With.

Selfish

Party

Men

Have You Ever Not Known Something But Known It At The Same Time?

Known

Time Cant Be Given. But It Can Be Shared.

Given

Cant

So Many Objects, So Many Memories. Each Was Being Labelled And Packed Away In Bags Just As It Was In Her Mind. To Be Stored In An Area That Would Sometime Be Called Upon To Teach And Help In Future Life.

Memories

Mind

Bags

But With Your Life You Make A Few Bad Decisions, Get Unlucky A Few Times, Whatever, But You Have To Keep Going, Right?

Decision

Bad Decision

Unlucky

Imagining And Fantasizing Did Nothing But Break Her Heart.

Heart

Break

I Wake Up In The Morning And I Feel Like I’m Missing Something. I Know That There’s Something Not Right, And It Takes Me A While To Remember What It Is . . . Then I Remember. My Best Friend Is Gone. My Only Friend. It Was Silly Of Me To Rely So Much On One Person.

Morning

Silly

Missing

Nobody Can Pretend To Know What People Want To Read Or Hear Or See. People Rarely Know It Themselves; They Only Know It After The Fact.

People

Want

Facts

You Gotta Be Rich To Be Insane, Hol. Losing Your Mind Is Not A Luxury For The Middle Class.

I Love You

Class

Luxury

Decide Where And When You Want To Write. I Like Space, And Silence Is An Inspiration To Me.

Inspiration

Writing

Space

It's Funny How People Mark Their Lives, The Benchmarks They Choose To Decide When The Moment Is More Of A Moment Than Any Other. For Life Is Made Of Them. I Like To Think The Best Ones Of All Are In My Mind, That They Run Through My Blood In Their Own Memory Bank For No One Else But Me To See.

Running

Memories

Thinking

It's Like My Garden, Love. Everything Grows. Including Love. And With That Growing Everyday How Can You Expect Missing Her To Ever Fade Away? Everything Builds, Including Our Ability To Cope With It. That's How We Keep Going.

Garden

Missing

Everyday

Always A Chancer, Always Lucky, He'd Fall Into A River And Come Out Dry, With Fish In His Pockets.

Fall

Rivers

Luck

Are You Saying That The Feeling Of Searching For A Missing Sock Is Like Searching For Love ?

Missing

Feelings

Searching For Love

I Write My Novels Longhand. I Love The Feeling Of Writing; I Love To See Pen On Paper. It Feels More Creative Than Typing, And It's A More Visual Process For Me - I Can Picture The Entire Scene In My Head And Am Merely Writing What I See.

Writing

Creative

Feelings

But Even In Her Laughter There Was Something Missing. She Never Seemed To Be Truly Happy; She Just Seemed To Be Passing Time While She Waited For Something Else. She Was Tired Of Just Existing; She Wanted To Live.

Laughter

Tired

Missing

Close Your Eyes And Stare Into The Dark.

Eye

Dark

Staring

I Love It Here In Boston And I Love Studying Medicine. But It’s Not Home. Dublin Is Home. Being Back With You Felt Like Home. I Miss My Best Friend. I’ve Met Some Great Guys Here, But I Didn’t Grow Up With Any Of Them Playing Cops And Robbers In My Back Garden. I Don’t Feel Like They Are Real Friends. I Haven’t Kicked Them In The Shins, Stayed Up All Night On Santa Watch With Them, Hung From Trees Pretending To Be Monkeys, Played Hotel, Or Laughed My Heart Out As Their Stomachs Were Pumped. It’s Kind Of Hard To Beat That.

Growing Up

Real

Home

That's What Life Is About: People Come And Go.

People

Life Is

Comes And Goes

Moments Are Precious, Sometimes They Linger And Other Times They're Fleeing, And Yet So Much Could Be Done In Them; You Could Change A Mind, You Could Save A Life And You Could Even Fall In Love.

Falling In Love

Mind

Fleeing

Nobody's Life Is Filled With Perfect Little Moments. And If It Were, They Wouldn't Be Perfect Little Moments. They Would Just Be Normal. How Would You Ever Know Happiness If You Never Experience Downs?

Perfect

Littles

Normal

All Families Have Their Secrets, Most People Would Never Know Them, But They Know There Are Spaces, Gaps Where The Answers Should Be, Where Someone Should Have Sat, Where Someone Used To Be. A Name That Is Never Uttered, Or Uttered Just Once And Never Again. We All Have Our Secrets.

Should Have

Names

Space

Anyway, It Doesn't Matter How Much, How Often, Or How Closely You Keep An Eye On Things Because You Can't Control It. Sometimes Things And People Just Go. Just Like That.

Eye

People

Matter

I Think I Need To Face What I Could Have Been In Order To Understand And Accept What I Am.

Thinking

Order

Needs

More Often Than Not, The Easy Decisions Are The Wrong Decisions, And Sometimes We Feel Like We're Going Backward When We're Actually Moving Forward.

Moving

Decision

Ease

People Forget They Have Options. And They Forget That Those Things Really Don't Matter. They Should Concentrate On What They Have And Not What They Don't Have.

People

Matter

Forget

I'm Trying To Make Some Sense Out Of The Phrase "everything Happens For A Reason," And I Think I've Figured Out What The Reason Is - To Pissed Me Off.

Thinking

Everything Happens For A Reason

Trying

This Story Is About People,secrets And Time.about People Who, Not Unlike Parcels,hide Secrets,who Cover Themselves With Layers Until They Present Themselves To The Right Ones Who Can Unwrap Them And See Inside.

People

Secret

Stories

There Is Absolutely Nothing Wrong With Returning To The House You Grew Up In Every Now And Again. It's Good For The Soul.

House

Soul

Grew Up

I Would Love To Write A Mystery - A Romantic, Funny Mystery.

Writing

Mystery

Journalism Classes Teach Us That One Must Extract Oneself From The Story In Order To Report Without Bias, But Often We Need To Be In The Story In Order To Understand, To Connect, To Help The Audience Identify Or Else It Has No Heart; It Could Be A Robot Telling The Story, For All Anyone Cares.

Heart

Order

Class

Most Of All She Loved That When She Hugged Him Her Head Would Rest Neatly Just Below His Chin, Where She Could Feel His Breath Lightly Blowing Her Hair And Tickling Her Head.

Hair

Tickling

Feels

Age Is Just A Number, Not A State Of Mind Or A Reason For Any Type Of Particular Behaviour.

Numbers

Mind

Age

Her Best Friend Was Gone And Nobody Understood That No Amount Of Makeup, Fresh Air Or Shopping Was Going To Fill The Hole In Her Heart.

Husband

Heart

Makeup

Chin Up, Don’t Smile, Don’t Cry, Don’t Fall, Walk.

Fall

Cry

Chin Up

People Tell Stories And It's Up To Those Who Listen Whether To Believe Or Not." "shouldn't The Storyteller Believe It." "the Storyteller Should Tell It.

Believe

People

Stories

It's Not About Finding Mr Right, Or That Sort Of Conventional Ending, But I Do Want My Characters To Have Hope - And That's What I Do With All My Stories.

Character

Mr Right

Stories

Hundreds Of Butts In Piles On The Ground To Mark The Spot, Their Lives Sucked Out Of Them By Their Users In Panicked Distressed Frenzy, Their Souls Floating Around The Insides Of Lungs While Their Outsides Were Dropped, Stamped On And Deserted

Life Sucks

Soul

Floating

You Can Run And Run As Fast And As Far As You Like, But The Truth Is, Wherever You Run, There You Are.

Running

Truth Is

Being The Best Was As Equal To Being In The Middle, Which Was Equal To Being The Worst. All Were Merely A State Of Being. It Was How A Person Felt In That State And Why They Were In That State That Was The Important Thing.

Important

Being The Best

States

Alex: Rosie, I Wanted You To Be The First Person To No That I’ve Decided To Become A Heart Surgeon! Rosie: Cool, Does It Pay Well? Alex: Rosie, It’s Not About The Money. Rosie: Where I Come From, It’s All About The Money. Probably Because I Don’t Have Any.

Heart

Doe

Alex

Two Lost Things That Had Survived The Seas And Arrived On A Coastline. What Did They Do? They Implanted Themselves In The Sand And Grew Into Trees And Lined The Beaches. Sometimes A Lot Can Come Of Being All Washed Up. You Can Really Grow.

Beach

Sea

Two

Don't Be Afraid To Fall In Love Again. Open Your Heart And Follow Where It Leads You...and Remember, Shoot For The Moon.

Falling In Love

Heart

Moon

After Having My Baby I Felt Like I'd Been Introduced To My Life, I Slowed Down, I Paid More Attention To Simple Things, I Addressed A Few Issues In My Own Life, I Even Got Married, I Looked At What Was Important And What Wasn't, And So I Used That Experience For Inspiration.

Baby

Inspiration

Simple

Love Can Change Us Beyond Recognition, We Become Love-sick, Soft-eyed Jelly-bellied Fools.

Sick

Jelly

Fool

Love Was One Of Those Feelings That You Could Never Control.

Feelings

Day-to-day Things, The Mundane, Are What Keeps The Motor Running. How Extraordinary The Ordinary Really Is, A Tool We All Use To Keep Going, A Template For Sanity.

Running

Ordinary

Tools

We Have A Long Way To Go To Being The Perfect Couple, We Certainly Don’t Live The Fairy Tale Marriage, He Doesn’t Shower Me With Rose Petals And Fly Me To Paris On Weekends But When I Get My Hair Cut, He Notices. When I Dress Up To Go Out At Night, He Compliments Me. When I Cry, He Wipes My Tears. When I Feel Lonely, He Makes Me Feel Loved. And Who Needs Paris, When You Can Get A Hug?

Lonely

Couple

Cutting

Twice We Stood Beside Each Other At The Altar, Rosie. Twice. And Twice We Got It Wrong. I Needed You To Be There For My Wedding Day But I Was Too Stupid To See That I Needed You To Be The Reason For My Wedding Day. But We Got It All Wrong.

Stupid

Wedding Day

Reason

We All Get Lost Once In A While, Sometimes By Choice, Sometimes Due To Forces Beyond Our Control. When We Learn What It Is Our Soul Needs To Learn, The Path Presents Itself. Sometimes We See The Way Out But Wander Further And Deeper Despite Ourselves; The Fear, The Anger Or The Sadness Preventing Us Returning. Sometimes We Prefer To Be Lost And Wandering, Sometimes It's Easier. Sometimes We Find Our Own Way Out. But Regardless, Always, We Are Found.

Believe

Sadness

Choices

When You Drop A Glass Or A Plate To The Ground, It Makes A Crashing Sound. When A Window Shatters, A Table Breaks, Or A Picture Fall Of The Wall, It Makes Noise. But As For Your Heart, When That Breaks, It's Completely Silent... And You Almost Wish There Was A Noise To Distract You From The Pain.

Wall

Pain

Fall

What Seems Tragic Now Won't Even Be An Issue In A Few Years Time.

Issues

Years

Tragic

Life Is Everything, And You Haven't Lived It Properly Until You Believe.

Believe

Life Is

Havens

Oh Well, Is It Hurting Anyone? Because If Its Not And You’ve Been Given It, I’d As Soon Stop Calling It A Thing And Start Referring To It As A Gift.

Hurt

Calling

Given

At Moments When Life Is At Its Worst There Are Two Things You Can Do: 1.) Break Down,lose Hope And Refuse To Go On While Lying Face Down On The Ground Banging Your Fists And Kicking Your Legs, Or 2.) Laugh. Bobby And I Did The Latter.

Lying

Two

Laughing

At Your Weakest, You End Up Showing More Strength; At Your Lowest, You Are Suddenly Lifted Higher Than You’ve Ever Been. They All Border One Another, These Opposites And Show How Quickly We Can Be Altered.

Opposites

Borders

Ends

I Never Grew Up Thinking The Goal In Life Was To Be A Millionaire. All The Way Through College, I Had A Part-time Job. I Worked Hard To Get The Things That You Need At That Age.

Jobs

College

Thinking

Perhaps I’ve Been Rushing My Whole Entire Life, Jumping Into Things Headfirst Without Thinking Them Through. Running Through The Days Without Noticing The Minutes.

Running

Thinking

Jumping

I Always Pushed Myself. Whenever I Felt I Needed To Stop, I Made Myself Run Faster.

Running

Made

Faster

Some People Say That You Shouldn't Operate From A Place Of Fear But If There Is No Fear, How Is There A Challenge?

People

Challenges

No Fear

I'd Tried Enough To Know That Anything Long Term Wasn't Going To Work.

Long

Enough

Term

What Was That Thing That Could Make Two People Promise One Another To Spend Every Day Of The Rest Of Their Lives Together? Ah,i Found It. It Was A Thing Called Love. A Small Simple Word.

Simple

Two

People

When Something Tragic Has Happened, You'll Find That You, The Tragicee, Become The Person That Has To Make Everything Comfortable For Everyone Else.... As A Tragicee And Future Divorcee, You'll Also Find That People Will Question You On The Biggest Decisions You've Ever Made In Your Life As Though You Hadn't Thought About Them At All Before – As Though, Through Their Twenty Questions And Dubious Faces, They're Going To Shine Light On Something That You Missed The Hundredth Time Around During Your Darkest Hours.

Divorce

Light

People

What If We Knew What Tomorrow Would Bring? Would We Fix It? Could We?

What If

Tomorrow

Ifs

Tonight I'm Happy. I Will Worry About Tomorrow When Tomorrow Comes. But I'm Getting There.

Worry

Tonight

Tomorrow

I Don't Know Why Men Like To Barbecue So Much. Maybe Its The Only Thing They Can Cook. Or Maybe They're Just Closet Pyromaniacs.

Men

Closets

Barbecue

Yes It's Difficult. Yes It's Horrible. Yes It's The Worst Thing That Has Ever Happen In My Whole Life. But I Just Can't Give Up.

Giving Up

Difficult

Horrible

Children Are The Ones That Know Exactly What's Going On In The World, You Know. They 'see' More Than Adults, 'believe' In More, Are Honest, And Will Always, 'always' Let You Know Where You Stand.

Children

Believe

Adults

He Was One Of Those People Who Made You Feel Like They Either Didn't Know Or Didn't Care That You Were In The Room And If They Ever Did Acknowledge Your Existence It Was Bizarrely Score One To You, And Twenty Years Later They'd Tell You They'd Always Had A Crush On You But Never Had The Courage To Say Anything And You'd Tell Them, What? I Didn't Even Think You Liked Me? And They'd Say, Are You Crazy? I Just Never Knew What To Say!

Crush

Crazy

Thinking

I Used To Think That It Was Better To Have Too Much Than Too Little, But Now I Think If The Too Much Was Never Supposed To Be Yours, You Should Just Take What Is Yours And Give The Rest Back.

Thinking

Giving

Littles

When You're On Your Own, You Look For Signs. Sometimes You Make Them Up, Sometimes They're Actually There, But Most Of The Time You Can't Tell The Difference From The Two.

Two

Differences

Looks

Whenever I Go To Germany I Find That My Readers Have T-shirts With My Book Covers Printed On Them. They Come To All The Events, They Have Gifts And They Come With Their Families. They Are Always Very Open To Sharing Their Personal Stories.

Book

Events

Germany

This Love Thing Awakened A Group Of Slumbering Senses In My Body That I Never Even Knew Existed.

Fall

Groups

Body

Not Like A Heart, Which Let People In Without Permission, Held Them In A Special Place She Never Had Any Say In And Then Yearned For Them To Remain There Longer Than They Planned.

Heart

People

Special

Often When We Realize How Precious Those Seconds Are, It's Too Late For Them To Be Captured Because The Moment Has Passed. We Realize Too Late.

Too Late

Realizing

Moments

As Long As You're Around, Your Life Is Too. So Just As You Shower Love And Affection And Attention On The Husbands, Wives, Parents, Children And Forever Friends Who Sorround You, You Have To Do So Equally With Your Life, Because It's Yours, It's You, And It's Always There Rooting For You, Cheering You On, Even When You Feel Like You Can't Do It. I Gave Up On My Life For A While, But What I've Learned Is That Even When That Happens And Especially When That Happens, Life Never Gives Up On You.

Cheer

Children

Giving Up

I Write Human Stories. I Write About People. Not As A Product Of Their Environment. But From The Stance That Everybody Is Made Of The Same Thing.

Writing

People

Stories

My Box Bedroom Can Only Fit A Bed And A Wardrobe But It Was My Whole World. My Only Personal Space To Think And Dream, To Cry And Laugh And Wait Until I Became Old Enough To Do All The Things I Wasn't Allowed To Do.

Dream

Thinking

Space

And That Is How Goodwin Problems Were Always Fixed. Fix Them On The Surface But Don't Go To The Root, Always Ignoring The Elephant In The Room. I Think That Morning Was When I Realized I'd Grown Up With An Elephant In Every Room Of My Life. It Was Practically Our Family Pet.

Morning

Thinking

Elephants

His Entired Life Bundled Into Wenty Refuse Sacks. His And Her Memories Bundle Away In Holly's Mind. Each Item Unearthed Dust, Tears, Laughter And Memories. She Bagged The Items, Cleared The Dust, Wiped Her Eyes And Filed Away The Memories.

Laughter

Memories

Eye

"what Is It With People These Days?" He Hisses... "in My Day, Something Just Was. None Of This Analysis A Hundred Times Over. None Of These College Courses With People Graduating With Degrees In Whys And Hows And Becauses. Sometimes, Love, You Just Need To Forget All Of Those Words And Enroll In A Little Lesson Called 'thank You.'"

Gratitude

Love You

College

The First Day Of The Rest Of My Life, And I’m Not Sure I Want To Be Here. I Know I Should Be Thanking Somebody For This, But I Really Don’t Feel Like It. Instead, I Wish They Hadn’t Bothered.

Wish

Want

Firsts

Elizabeth’s Hands Flew To Her Mouth; Tears Filled Her Eyes With Happiness As She Realized He Was Fulfilling Yet Another Of Her And Her Mother’s Intended Activities. “why Are You Fulfilling All Of My Mother’s Dreams?” She Asked, Studying His Face And Searching For Answers. “so You Don’t Run Away Like She Did In Search Of Them,” He Replied, Taking Her Hand. “come On, Join In!” He Said, Leaping Around.

Mother

Running

Dream

She Would Make Facial Expressions As Though She Were Having Conversations With People In Her Head.they Seemed To Turn Into Debates More Often Than Not,judging By The Activity On Her Forehead...it Was Almost The Conversations In Her Head Were Loud Enough To Fill Her Silence.

Expression

People

Judging

Time Is More Precious Than Gold, More Precious Than Diamonds, More Precious Than Oil Or Any Valuable Treasures. It Is Time That We Do Not Have Enough Of; It Is Time That Causes The War Within Our Hearts, And So We Must Spend It Wisely.

Time

War

Heart

Maybe Love Is Thinking That Every Time Your Partner Does Or Says Something Mundane That You Want To Start A Mexican Wave From Here To Uzbekistan In Utter Delight.

Love Is

Thinking

Uzbekistan

There Were Hundreds Of Them Spread Across The Floor, Each Telling Its Own Tale Of Triumph Or Sadness, Each Letter Representing A Phase In Her Life. She Had Kept Them All.

Sadness

Triumph

Phases

A Veil Hangs Between The Two Opposites, A Mere Slip Of A Thing That Is Transparent To Warn Us Or Comfort Us. You Hate Now But Look Through This Veil And See The Possibility Of Love; You're Sad Now But Look Through To The Other Side And See Happiness. Absolute Composure To A Complete Mess - It Happens So Quickly, All In The Blink Of An Eye.

Hate

Love You

Eye

Life's Kind Of Like A Painting. A Really Bizarre, Abstract Painting. You Could Look At It And Think That All It Is, Is A Blur. And You Could Continue Living Your Life Thinking That All It Is, Is Just A Blur. But If You Really Look At It, Really See It, Focus On It, And Use Your Imagination, Life Can Become So Much More. The Painting Could Be Of The Sea, The Sky, People,buildings, A Butterfly On A Flower, Or Anything Except The Blur You Were Once Convinced It Was.

Flower

Butterfly

Thinking

That Was Other Thing I Hated About Kids; They Always Said Th Exact Things That Deep Dpwn You Already Knew, Would Never Admit, And Most Certainly Never Wanted To Hear.

Kids

Said

Hated

Sighs And Silences And Avoided Conversations Are Just As Important As The Things You Do Talk About.

Silence

Important

Conversation

I Want A Character To Wake Up One Day And Feel Like, I Can Face It. That, To Me, Is Happy. I Want The Characters To Rescue Themselves, Though You Use The Relationships You Have, To Make You Strong Enough To Be Able To Do That.

Strong

Character

One Day

You Have The Rest Of Your Lives To Catch Up Together. After All, Soulmates Always End Up Together. [...] Ey-girlfriends Are Easily Forgotten. Best Friends Stay With You For Ever.

Best Friend

Girlfriend

Soulmate

Truth Is, Something That I Thought Was Perfect Was Taken Away From Me, And I Never Wanted Perfect Again. I Wanted Middle Of The Road, Stuff I Didn’t Care About So That I Couldn’t Lose Anything I Really Loved Ever Again.

Taken

Perfect

Care

Seeming And Being Are Not One And The Same.

Seeming

I Guess When You’re Trying To Find All The Parts Of Yourself, It’s Difficult To Be With Someone Who’s Already Fully Intact.

Trying

Difficult

If Invisible People Eat Invisible Food Does Invisible Wind Blow Invisible Trees?

Blow

Wind

People

And Nobody Had Told Them That They Were Short On Time.

There's No Limit To What You Can Dream. You Expect The Unexpected, You Believe In Magic, In Fairy Tales, And In Possibilities. Then You Grow Older And That Innocence Is Shattered And Somewhere Along The Way The Reality Of Life Gets In The Way And You're Hit By The Realization That You Can't Be All You Wanted To Be, You Just Might Have To Settle For A Little Bit Less.

Love

Dream

Believe

Alone Because Love Was One Of Those Feelings That You Could Never Have Control Of. And She Needed To Be In Control. She Had Loved Before, Had Been Loved, Had Tasted What It Was To Dream, And Had Felt What It Was To Dance On Air. She Had Also Learned What It Was To Cruelly Land Back On The Earth With A Thud.

Dream

Air

Land

Life Has A Way Of Getting What It Wants When It Really Knows What It Wants.

Want

Way

Knows

I Have Found That The Many Imbalances Within Our Individual Lives Result In An Overall More Worldly Balance. What I Mean Is That No Matter How Unfair I Think Something Is, I Need Only Look At The Bigger Picture To See How, In A Way, It Fits... However Impossible It Is To Understand It Or See It At The Time.

Mean

Thinking

Balance

It’s Hard For Everyone Isn’t It? Anyone Who Says It’s Easy Is A Liar. There’s This Huge Divide Between Me And Alex Right Now Because I Feel Like We’re Living In Such Different Worlds, I Don’t Know What To Talk About With Him Anymore. And We Used To Be Able To Talk All Night. He Phones Once A Week And I Listen To What He’s Been Up To During The Week And Try To Bite My Tongue Every Time I Go Into Another Katie Story. Truth Is I Have Nothing Other To Talk About But Her And I Know It Bores People. I Think I Used To Be Interesting Once Upon A Time.

Liars

Thinking

Night

What Is It With Science These Days? Everyone Is So Quick To Believe In It, In All These New Scientific Discoveries, New Pills For This, New Pills For That. Get Thinner, Grow Hair, Yada, Yada, Yada, But When It Requires A Little Faith In Something You All Go Crazy.' He Shook His Head, 'if Miracles Had Chemical Equations Then Everyone Would Believe.

Crazy

Believe

Science

Yesterday Was A Closed Book, Tomorrow, However, Was Another Story.

Book

Yesterday

Stories

...all People Needed Was Time And Then They Could Figure Most Things Out Of Themselves.

People

Figures

Needed

You've Come To Give Me A Piece Of Your Mind. You Know That Phrase Is Really Beautiful. The Mind Is The Most Powerful Thing In The Body. Whatever The Mind Believes, The Body Can Achieve. So To Give Someone A Piece Of It... Well Thank You. Funny How People Are Always Intent On Giving It To The People They Dislike When It Really Should Be For The Ones They Love.

Beautiful

Powerful

Believe

Well Isn’t That One Thing You’re All The More Wise For? Age Has Taught You Something. It Seems To Me That You Know The Big Secret. That Nobody Knows What’s Going On

Wise

Secret

Age

She Had Been Given A Wonderful Gift: Life. Sometimes It Was Cruelly Taken Away Too Soon, But It's What You Did With It That Counted, Not How Long It Lasted.

Taken

Long

Sometimes

Holly Smiled Weakly. Gerry Would Know Exactly How She Was Feeling, He Would Know Exactly What To Say And He Would Know Exactly What To Do. He Would Give Her One Of His Famous Hugs And All Her Problems Would Melt Away. She Grabbed A Pillow From Her Bed And Hugged It Tight. She Couldn't Remember The Last Time She Hugged Someone, Really Hugged Someone. And The Depressing Thing Was That She Couldn't Imagine Ever Embracing Anyone The Same Way Again.

Depressing

Giving

Hollies

I Can’t Even Think About What Life “could Have Been” Like In Boston, Without Crying. It’s Like Deja-vu, I Don’t Think Me And Boston Were Ever Meant To Be.

Thinking

Boston

Cry

I Was The Life And She Was The Soul Of Every Party.

Party

Soul

It's Not The Job Of This Town To Make Me Feel Happy. It's Not This Town´s Fault That I Don't Feel I Fit In. It Doesn't Matter Where You Are In The World, Because It's About Where You Are In Your Head. It's About The Other World I Inhabit. The World Of Dreams, Hope, Imagination, And Memories. I'm Happy Up Here, And Because Of That I'm Happy Up There Too

Dream

Jobs

Memories

I Think That Most People Go To Bookshops And Have No Idea What They Want To Buy. Somehow The Books Sit There, Almost Magically Willing People To Pick Them Up. The Right Person For The Right Book. Its As Though They Know Whose Life They Need To Be A Part Of, How They Can Make A Difference, How They Can Teach A Lesson, Put A Smile On A Face At Just The Right Time.

Book

Thinking

Ideas

It’s Not Easy Remembering The Good Times.

Good Times

Remember

Easy

Believe Me, When You Die, It's Everybody Else's But Your Problem

Believe

Problem

Believe In Me

She Needed To Talk, She Needed To Cry, She Needed To Vent All Her Frustrations And Disappointments.

Disappointment

Frustration

Cry

Love Is Not A Theme. It's An Atmosphere, A Mood.

Love Is

Atmosphere

Mood

Paths Are So Much Clearer When People Stop Looking At What Everyone Else Is Doing And Instead Concentrate On Themselves ~gabe

People

Path

That's The Thing About Lessons, You Always Learn Them When You Don't Expect Them Or Want Them.

Life

Inspirational Life

Want

There’s Something Completely Unnerving About Seeing Your Parents Upset. I Suppose It’s Because They’re Supposed To Be The Strong Ones, But That’s Not Just It. Ever Since People Are Kids They Use Their Parents As Some Sort Of Measurement For How Bad A Situation Is. When You Fall On The Ground Really Hard And You Can’t Figure Out Whether It Hurts Or Not You Look To Your Parents. If They Look Worried And Rush Toward You, You Cry. If They Laugh And Smack The Ground Saying “bold Ground,” Then You Pick Yourself Up And Get On With It.

Strong

Hurt

Fall

They Worry About My Sanity I Join With Them On That

Worry

Sanity

Children Need Close Friends To Help Them Grow Up, To Discover Things About Themselves And About Life. They Also Need Close Friends To Keep Them Sane

Children

Growing Up

Needs

You All Looked So Happy Together In The Photograph. You Looked Like The Perfect Family. Is There Such A Thing Anymore Because If There Is, My Happy Little Unit Was Definitely Not In The Queue When They Were Handing Out The Titles.

Perfect

Together

Titles

...god Leads You To It And Takes You Through It.

To Mention It Was To Ask A Favor And That As You Were Too Generous, And As For Her To Ask Was Always To Have, She Wouldn't

Favors

Asks

Generous

Why Do We Stop Believing In Ourselves? Why Do We Let Facts And Figures And Anything But Dreams Rule Our Lives?

Dream

Believe

Inspiration

The Important Thing Is Not What We (look) Like,but The Role We Play In Our Best Friend's Life.

Play

Important

Roles

Sometimes You Have To Give Yourself To Somebody In Order To See Who You Are. Sometimes You Have To Unravel Things To Get To The Core

Order

Giving

Sometimes

You Never Forget About Things You've Done That You Know You Shouldn't Have Done. They Hang Around Your Mind, Linger Like A Thief Casing A Joint For A Future Job. You See Them There, Dramatically Lurking Nearby In Striped Monochrome, Leaping Behind Postboxes As Soon As Your Head Whips Around To Confront Them. Or It's A Familiar Face In A Crowd That You Glimpse But Then Lose Sight Of. An Annoying Where's Wally? Forever Locked Away And Hidden In Every Thought In Your Conscience. The Bad Thing That You Did, Always There To Let You Know.

Jobs

Sight

Forever

We Haven't Lost Everything, If We Haven't Lost Our Hope.

Lost Everything

Lost

Havens

Then I Realised That I Was The God On This Occasion. I Had Tried To Help The Bluebottle, But It Wouldn't Let Me. And Then I Felt Sorry For God Because I Understood His Frustration. Sometimes When People Offer A Helping Hand, It Gets Pushed Away. People Always Want To Help Themselves First.

Sorry

Frustration

Hands

We Each Have Our Hiding Places And We Each Put Up With The Little Quirks Of The People We Love.

People

Littles

Hiding

Sometimes Wrong Numbers Are The Right Numbers

Wrong Number

Numbers

Sometimes

Our Minds Do Unusual Things Sometimes, Tamara. When We’re Looking For Things It Takes It Upon Itself To Go Down Its Own Route. All We Can Do Is Follow

Unusual Things

Mind

Sometimes

Finding Someone You Love And Who Loves You Back Is A Wonderful, Wonderful Feeling. But Finding A True Soul Mate Is An Even Better Feeling. A Soul Mate Is Someone Who Understands You Like No Other, Loves You Like No Other, Will Be There For You Forever, No Matter What. They Say That Nothing Lasts Forever, But I Am A Firm Believer In The Fact That For Some, Love Lives On Even After We're Gone.

Romantic

True Love

Soulmate

Your Heart Can Break At Any Age.

Heart

Age

Break

Is Not Where I Live Happily Ever After, Or Who With. It's The Fact That I Live Happily Ever After.

Facts

Ever After

Happily Ever After

You Deserve Someone Who Loves You With Every Single Beat Of His Heart, Someone Who Thinks About You Constantly, Someone Who Spends Every Minute Of Every Day Just Wondering What You’re Doing, Where You Are, Who You’re With, And If You’re Ok. You Need Someone Who Can Help You Reach Your Dreams And Protect You From Your Fears. You Need Someone Who Will Treat You With Respect, Love Every Part Of You, Especially Your Flaws. You Should Be With Someone Who Could Make You Happy, Really Happy, Dancing On Air Happy.

Love

Dream

Heart

Empty Words Almost Echo Within Themselves

Echoes

Empty

Empty Words

I Felt That My Views And Philosophies Had Been Changed Overnight. The Philosophies That I Had Gladly Carved In Stone, Recited And Danced Upon.

Philosophy

Views

Stones

Alone Or Not, You Gotta Walk Forward.

Walks

Life... It's A Great And Terrible And Short And Endless Thing. None Of Us Come Out Of It Alive.

Alive

My One And Only

Endless

.. Then When The Hurt Goes, Anger Takes Its Place; When The Anger Runs Out Of System, Loneliness Steps In To Take Over. It's A Never Ending Circle Of Emotions; Every Lost Emotion Being Replaced By Another.

Running

Hurt

Loneliness

Understanding Quotes: Their Essence and Application

Quotes, or quotations, are powerful tools in communication, encapsulating ideas, emotions, and wisdom in concise expressions. They serve various purposes across different contexts, from academic writing to everyday conversation.

1. Defining Quotes

A quote is a repetition of someone else's statement or thoughts. It can be a direct replication of words spoken or written by another individual, often used to support arguments, provide evidence, or convey profound insights.

2. The Importance of Quotes

2.1. Enhancing Credibility

Incorporating quotes from authoritative sources can bolster the credibility of your work. By referencing experts or primary sources, you demonstrate thorough research and a solid foundation for your arguments.

2.2. Providing Evidence

Quotes serve as concrete evidence to support claims. In academic and professional writing, they validate points made, offering readers a basis to trust the information presented.

2.3. Conveying Emotions and Perspectives

Quotes can encapsulate emotions and perspectives succinctly. They allow writers to express complex feelings or viewpoints through the words of others, often more eloquently than paraphrasing.

3. Types of Quotes

3.1. Direct Quotes

Direct quotes involve copying the exact words from a source, enclosed in quotation marks. They are used when the original wording is significant or particularly well-expressed.

3.2. Indirect Quotes (Paraphrasing)

Indirect quotes restate the original message in your own words. While not enclosed in quotation marks, they still require proper attribution to the original source.

3.3. Block Quotes

Block quotes are lengthy direct quotations, formatted as a separate block of text. They are typically used for quotes exceeding a certain length, varying by citation style. For instance, in APA style, quotes longer than 40 words are formatted as block quotes.

4. Proper Usage of Quotes

4.1. Contextual Relevance

Ensure that the quote you choose is relevant to the topic and adds value to your content. Avoid inserting quotes solely for decorative purposes.

4.2. Integration into Your Writing

Seamlessly integrate quotes into your writing. Introduce them appropriately and follow up with analysis or commentary to connect them to your main points.

4.3. Attribution and Citation

Always attribute quotes to their original authors and provide proper citations according to the required style guide (APA, MLA, Chicago, etc.).

5. Common Mistakes to Avoid

5.1. Overusing Quotes

Relying too heavily on quotes can overshadow your voice. Use them sparingly to support your arguments, not replace them.

5.2. Lack of Analysis

Presenting a quote without analysis or explanation can leave readers questioning its relevance. Always follow up with your interpretation or discussion.

5.3. Misquoting or Taking Out of Context

Ensure that quotes are accurate and not taken out of context, as this can mislead readers and undermine your credibility.

6. Quotes in Different Contexts

6.1. Academic Writing

In academic writing, quotes are used to support arguments, provide evidence, and engage with existing literature. Proper citation is crucial to avoid plagiarism.

6.2. Journalism

Journalists use quotes to provide firsthand accounts, add authenticity, and present multiple perspectives within a story.

6.3. Literature and Creative Writing

In literature, quotes can be used to convey character voices, themes, and stylistic elements. They enrich narratives and provide depth to storytelling.

7. Punctuation and Formatting

Understanding the correct punctuation and formatting of quotes is essential:

Quotation Marks: Always enclose direct quotes within quotation marks.

Punctuation Placement: In American English, periods and commas are placed inside quotation marks, while colons and semicolons are placed outside.

Block Quotes: For longer quotes, format them as block quotes without quotation marks, and indent the entire block.

8. Ethical Considerations

Ethical use of quotes involves accurate representation, proper attribution, and respect for intellectual property. Misuse can lead to plagiarism, which carries serious academic and professional consequences.

9. Tools for Managing Quotes

Utilize tools like citation generators and plagiarism checkers to manage quotes effectively. These tools help ensure proper formatting and originality in your writing.

Conclusion

Quotes are invaluable in enriching content, providing evidence, and conveying complex ideas succinctly. When used appropriately, they enhance the quality and credibility of your writing. Always ensure relevance, proper integration, and ethical usage to maximize their impact.

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