happiness takes as much practice as unhappiness does. it's by living that you live more. by waiting, you wait more ...

Part two ... :) More Sisterhood Everlasting, a Tigers quote or two, and some other lyrics and quotes. 

"Grief was like a newborn, and the first three moths were hard as hell, but by six months you'd recognized defeat, shifted your life around, and made room for it."
-from Sisterhood Everlasting (The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, Book 5) by Ann Brashares

"Somewhere she possessed the idea that if she was moving, the saddest images couldn't settle on her as heavily. It didn't really work. But being still was intolerable."
-from Sisterhood Everlasting (The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, Book 5) by Ann Brashares

"We are masters of the unsaid words, but slaves of those we let slip out."
-Winston Churchill

"'Someday,' he'd said ... The word has seemed like a precious gift at the time, a keepsake or an inheritance. She'd tucked it away and treasured it accordingly, waiting for the right time to cash it in."
-from Sisterhood Everlasting (The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, Book 5) by Ann Brashares

"Waiting and waiting. That was her thing. The word gave her an excuse to wait and do little else. The word wasn't so much a gift as a terminal virus with a long period of latency. In her hears eh thought he had meant it, but of course he hadn't. ... She had been pretending she'd more or less forgotten the whole episode, but she hadn't. She had still been a teenager at the time, he not much older, and that gave everybody an automatic out, didn't it? ... People said things they didn't mean all the time. Everybody else in the world seemed able to factor it in. But not Lena. Why did she believe the things people said? Why did she cling to them so literally? Why did she think she knew people when she clearly didn't? Why did she imagine that the world didn't change, when it did? Maybe because she didn't change. She believed what people said and she stayed the same."
-from Sisterhood Everlasting (The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, Book 5) by Ann Brashares

"I'll let you be in my dreams if I can be in yours."
-Bob Dylan

"It was a blessing and also a curse of handwritten letters that, unlike email, you couldn't obsessively reread what you'd written after you'd sent it. You couldn't attempt to unsend it. Once you'd sent it, it was gone. It was an object that no longer belonged to you, but belonged to your recipient to do with what he would. You tended to remember the feeling of what you'd said more than words. YOU gave the object away, and left yourself with the memory. That was what it was to give."
-from Sisterhood Everlasting (The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, Book 5) by Ann Brashares




"I think you need to make this decision on your own. I think you need to know what you want and try to get it. That's the only thing you can do. The other part is not in your control."
-from Sisterhood Everlasting (The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, Book 5) by Ann Brashares

"She had to have faith not just in trying, but in failing. Was she strong enough to fail? Was she strong enough not to?"
-from Sisterhood Everlasting (The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, Book 5) by Ann Brashares

"Maybe you think you'll be entitled to more happiness later by forgoing all of it now, but it doesn't work that way. Happiness takes as much practice as unhappiness does. It's by living that you live more. By waiting, you wait more. Every waiting day makes your life a little less. Every lonely take makes you a little smaller. Every day you put off your life makes you less capable of living it."
-from Sisterhood Everlasting (The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, Book 5) by Ann Brashares



"It was just one of those feelings you have. There’s rare times as an athlete where things start to slow down a little bit, and (you) just kind of seize the moment."
-Brennan Boesch

Not knowing when the dawn will come
I open every door.
-Emily Dickinson

"'You have been my friend,' replied Charlotte. 'That in itself is a tremendous thing.'"
-from Charlotte's Web by E.B. White

And you cannot go on
Indefinitely being just an ordnary
decent egg.
We must be hatched or go bad.
-C.S. Lewis

"I think of your many beautiful traits, but also your fitfulness. I've watched you go through dozens of jobs, apartments, phones, plants, and obsessions. You would think that a voracious girl as yourself would have gone through dozens of boyfriends, dozens of lovers, but it occurred to me the other day that you haven't. You've had only one. You told me once that Eric was your touchstone, and I've thought of it many times. 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."
-from Sisterhood Everlasting (The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, Book 5) by Ann Brashares

 "(Her) suffering had been outside of their friendship, outside of their control. It didn't represent a failure of their bond. But (she) had kept it from them, and that represented a different kind of failure. She hadn't let them in at that darkest juncture in her life. They couldn't have prevented any of it, but they could have given her comfort and they hadn't. Why hadn't they? Why hadn't she let them? Because we aren't built for leaving, Carmen realized. (She) hadn't known how to leave them. There was no precedent."
-from Sisterhood Everlasting (The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, Book 5) by Ann Brashares

"I've got a heart that appears to have been broken open. I feel hopeful where I am."
-from Sisterhood Everlasting (The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, Book 5) by Ann Brashares

"But i know this. we're ready to move forward again in our way. Together or apart, no matter how apart, we live in one another. We go on together."
-from Sisterhood Everlasting (The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, Book 5) by Ann Brashares

It’s such a funny thing
How nothing’s funny when it’s you
You tell ‘em what you mean
But they keep whiting out the truth
It’s like a work of art
That never gets to see the light
Keep you beneath the stars
Won’t let you touch the sky ...
I'm no beauty queen,
I'm just beautiful me
You've got every right
To a beautiful life
-"Who Says" by Selena Gomez

i am loyal to who we are and what we have. i am worshipful of my sisters and worshipful of our sisterhood ...

Part one of two for the evening, since I'm at the limit on tag characters with this one. Most of the quotes are from Sisterhood Everlasting (The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, Book 5), with other quotes and song lyrics mixed in. 

If you be my soft and sweet,
I'll be your strong and steady,
You be my glass of wine,
I'll be your shot of whiskey,
You be my sunny day,
I'll be your shade tree
You be my honeysuckle,
I'll be your honey bee.
-"Honey Bee" by Blake Shelton

"If you are not too long, I will wait here for you all my life."
-Oscar Wilde

"I can be bratty and tempestuous, but I am loyal above all. I am loyal to who we are and what we have. I am worshipful of my sisters and worshipful of our sisterhood."
-from Sisterhood Everlasting (The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, Book 5) by Ann Brashares

"She's such a force you forget she gets injured. You'll see her stagger and realize she needs help long before she does. Your heart goes out to her. She doesn't know how to feel her own pain, but she can feel yours."
-from Sisterhood Everlasting (The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, Book 5) by Ann Brashares

"Growing up is hard on a friendship. There's no revelation in that. I remember my mom once told me that a good family is built for leaving, because that is what children must do. And I've wondered many times, is that alsow hat a good friendship is supposed to be built for? ... We have no idea how to cope with the leaving. And I'm probably the worst of all. If you need a picture, picture this: me putting my hands over my eyes, pretending the leaving isn't happening, waiting for us all to be together again."

-from Sisterhood Everlasting (The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, Book 5) by Ann Brashares

"In some way she didn't like to admit, Lena was always waiting for a call. Not from the people who were always calling, but from the ones who never did."
-from Sisterhood Everlasting (The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, Book 5) by Ann Brashares

"It was the same thing almost every time Eric came home from someplace or even just walked back into the room where she was. She felt something, some little clap inside her head like a distant echo of the thunderous knock she had felt when she'd seen him the first time."
-from Sisterhood Everlasting (The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, Book 5) by Ann Brashares

"Suddenly her legs took root and her arms grew into long and slender branches. Apollo reached the laurel tree, and, still enamored with Daphne, held the tree in a special place in his heart."
-Encyclopedia Mythica

"She existedd in her friends; there she was. All the parts of herself she'd forgotten. She knew herself best when she was with them."
-from Sisterhood Everlasting (The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, Book 5) by Ann Brashares

But why would you wanna break a perfectly good heart?
-"A Perfectly Good Heart" by Taylor Swift

where there is great love, there are always wishes ...

"In the summer, the song sings itself."
-William Carlos Williams

"The past felt fragile to her But the past was set, right? It couldn't be changed. Why did she feel such a need to protect it?"
-from The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants: Girls In Pants (Book 3) by Ann Brashares

"She didn't want to leave the place where Kostos could find her. An on a deeper level, she didn't want to put more distance -- in time or in space -- between now and the time when he'd loved her. She didn't want to become a different girl from the one whom he had loved."
-from The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants: Girls In Pants (Book 3) by Ann Brashares 

"Lena too had been abandoned by the person she thought loved her best of all. And without meaning to or wanting to, she harbored a passive, unquenchable hope that someday he would come for her."
-from The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants: Girls In Pants (Book 3) by Ann Brashares 

"Where there is great love, there are always wishes."
-Willa Cather

"It was one of those morning when you come to terms with a strange new reality. You ask yourself, Did I dream that? Did i actually do that? Did he really say that? Reality comes back in bits and pieces, and you experience the novelty of it all over again. You wonder, Will this day and night and tomorrow and all the rest of the days be different because of what happened last night?"
-from The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants: Girls In Pants (Book 3) by Ann Brashares 

"Sometimes when she thought of Eric, and now more powerfully when she saw him, she felt some achy nostalgia for her old self. for the dauntless, daring soul she used to be. There was something vaguely enchanted about that time. There were certain qualities you possessed carelessly. And you couldn't retrieve them when they were gone. The very act of caring made the impossible to regain. Not all of that spirit was gone. She still had it, but she had a more tempered version. That time with Eric in Baja had been both the height of the magic and its calamitous end. He had managed to inspire both. She was a bit more fragile now. Or no. maybe she was less fragile. Maybe she had come to terms with her injuries and knew how to protect them. she was more self-protective, that was true."
-from The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants: Girls In Pants (Book 3) by Ann Brashares 

"Show me a girl with her feet planted firmly on the ground and I'll show you a girl who can't put her pants on."
-from The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants: Girls In Pants (Book 3) by Ann Brashares 

Hear melodies are sweet,
but those unheard
Are sweeter: therefore, ye soft pipes
Play on
-John Keats

"To the man who only has a hammer in the toolkit, every problem looks like a nail."
-Abraham Maslow

"There was that law of life, so cruel and so just, that one one must grow or else pay more for remaining the same."
-Norman Mailer

"To love another person is to see the face of God."
-Victor Hugo

"Like before, she was laid open by a glimpse of intimacy, and when she tried to find it again, there was no one and nothing there. Eric offered, whether he meant to or not, some giant idea of love. But she only grasped it long enough to know her poverty. He pushed her to destroy herself. He made her want and then gave her no satisfaction. Why did he do this to her? Why did she let him? how could she give herself away like this, even after she'd already learned such a bitter lesson?"
-from The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants: Girls In Pants (Book 3) by Ann Brashares 

"You made me believe in you and then you let me down. Is that how it is with you? Do you let people get close just so you can disappoint them?"
-from The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants: Girls In Pants (Book 3) by Ann Brashares 

"I had this idea that if I could make you happy, then I would be happy, too."
-from The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants: Girls In Pants (Book 3) by Ann Brashares 

"To brave the undertow, we had learned to hold hands."
-from The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants: Girls In Pants (Book 3) by Ann Brashares 

"The only true paradise is paradise lost."
-Marcel Proust

"Sometimes you hung up the phone and felt the bruising of your heart. It hurt now and it would hurt more later. The conversation was too unsatisfying to continue and yet you couldn't stand for it to end."
-from The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants: Forever In Blue (Book 4) by Ann Brashares 

"There was desire, no question. What else? Would she have continued to love him if he had continued to be available to her? Yes. The answer came before she finished thinking the question. Yes. there was a tie when he loved her and she loved him and they both believed they could be together. Indeed, such a time it was, it had effectively wrecked all the rest of her times. But could she have gotten over Kostos if he hadn't been taken from her so forcibly?"
-from The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants: Forever In Blue (Book 4) by Ann Brashares
 
"She watched him with a surprising little thrill in her stomach and waited for him to notice her. How often did she want that? Not often. What she really wanted, she informed herself, was for him to look at her in a particular way. ... She wanted him to give her the look, the slightly extended appraisal that would drain him of his mystery and transform him into a regular person."
-from The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants: Forever In Blue (Book 4) by Ann Brashares
 
"Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional."
-from The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants: Forever In Blue (Book 4) by Ann Brashares
 
"She spent a lot of time convincing herself that what you saw, even what you felt, had an unreliable relationship to what was actually there. What was actually there was reality, regardless of whether you saw it or how you felt about it."
-from The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants: Forever In Blue (Book 4) by Ann Brashares
 
"Right now I'm having amnesia and deja vu at the same time. I think I've forgotten this before."
-Steven Wright

"Was she really capable of forgetting him? Was that what she should be striving for? She wasn't sure she wanted to be striving for that. How disorienting it felt. She wasn't sure she wanted to be the forgetting type, even if she could be. If she forgot Kostos, she feared she'd forget most of herself along with him."
-from The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants: Forever In Blue (Book 4) by Ann Brashares
 
"Now she wanted it. She had stayed up all night working and thinking and studying, and it had culminated in her wanting it. ... In some ways, it had been easier not wanting it. But the wanting felt good. Even if she didn't get it. Wanting was what made you a person, and she was glad to feel like a person again."
-from The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants: Forever In Blue (Book 4) by Ann Brashares
 
"Experience is a hard teacher because she gives the test first, the lesson afterward."
-Vernon Law

"Lena had forgotten about forgetting Kostos. That was how she knew. When your remembered to forget, you were remembering. It was when you forgot to forget that you forgot. The thing that reminded Lena about Kostos came not from any movement in her brain (which would have constituted a failure to forget) ... It was simple. When she saw Kostos, she remembered him."
-from The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants: Forever In Blue (Book 4) by Ann Brashares

"As she said goodbye to Peter, she suddenly felt sad for him. he would do this same thing again. At some other place with some other misguided girl. He was already looking forward, shaking off the past -- a past that now included her."

-from The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants: Forever In Blue (Book 4) by Ann Brashares
 
"She remembered when she was around four or five asking Carmen if she believed the wish Tibby had made over her birthday candles would come true. 'Yeah, if you wish for something that could actually happen,' Carmen had said philosophically."

-from The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants: Forever In Blue (Book 4) by Ann Brashares
 
"She wondered about him. Had he ever really been able to love her? Did she really love him? There was undoubtedly something beautiful in longing and wishing. Their love story stayed perfect because they couldn't have it. But could he love her imperfection? Would he accept the fact that she wasn't always beautiful? Could he allow imperfection in himself? Would he give up being lovable for her sake? They had their imagined love. It had been wrenching and beautiful. But she now wondered whether either of them had ever had the stomach for the real thing."

-from The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants: Forever In Blue (Book 4) by Ann Brashares

she could live big. she could make herself do things that were hard ...

Finished rereading all the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants books this week and watching the movies. Here are quotes from the first two books and the first movie ...

"It felt like nothing would ever be the same again. Some things never would be. But we knew no matter how far we traveled on our own paths, somehow we would always find our way back to each other. And with that, we could get through anything."
-from The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (movie)

"The truth is there's a little bit of loser in all of us, ya know? Being happy isn't having everything in your life be perfect. Maybe it's about stringing together all the little things ... making those count for more than the bad stuff. Maybe we just get through it ... and that's all we can ask for."
-from The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (movie)

"Luck never gives: it only lends."
-Ancient Chinese Proverb

"Love your pals. Love yourself."
-from The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (Book 1) by Ann Brashares

"Love is like war: easy to begin, hard to end."
-Proverb

"Lena was suspicious of many things. But she had earned her suspicions about boys. Lena knew boys: They never looked beyond your looks. They pretended to be your friend to get you to trust them, and as soon as you trusted them, they went in for the grope. They pretended to want to work on a history project or volunteer on your blood drive committee to get your attention. But as soon as they got it through their skulls that you didn't want to go out with them, they suddenly weren't interested in time lines or dire blood shortages. Worst of all, on occasion they even went out with one of your best friends to get close to you, and broke that same best friend's heart when the truth came out."
-from The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (Book 1) by Ann Brashares 

"Bridget fixed her eyes on him. Look up, you. He did. Then he looked away so fast it was almost gratifying. He noticed her, all right."
-from The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (Book 1) by Ann Brashares 
"He was watching her. He didn't see her see him seeing her yet, and she didn't want him to. She made it a point never to be coy, but she wanted him to be able to watch her if he wanted to. He looked mellow from sun and running."

-from The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (Book 1) by Ann Brashares 

"Bridge needed a single focus. She had too much energy, she knew, and a fair amount of raw, undisciplined talent. At almost every point in her life, she needed one simple, unified goal to keep her going forward fast. Otherwise there was the possibility of going backward where she did not want to go."
-from The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (Book 1) by Ann Brashares 

"'Bridget is singled-minded in achieving her goals,' Dr. Lambert had written. 'Single-minded to the point of recklessness.'"
-from The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (Book 1) by Ann Brashares 

"Wish for what you want. Work for what you need."
-from The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (Book 1) by Ann Brashares 

"When we get back, do you think you could give me a few pointers on how to be a normal person? I don't seem to get it."
-from The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (Book 1) by Ann Brashares 

"What you do speaks so loudly that I cannot hear what you say."
-Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Maybe happiness didn't have to be about the big, sweeping circumstances, about having everything in your life in place. Maybe it was about stringing together a bunch of small pleasures. Wearing slippers and watching the Miss Universe contest. Eating a brownie with vanilla ice cream. ... Maybe happiness was just a matter of the little upticks -- the traffic signal that said 'Walk' the second you got there -- and the downticks -- the itchy tag at the back of your collar -- that happened to every person in the course of a day. Maybe everybody had the same allotted measure of happiness within each day. Maybe it didn't matter if you were a world-famous heartthrob or a painful geek. Maybe it didn't matter if your friend was possibly dying. Maybe you just got through it. Maybe this was all you could ask."
-from The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (Book 1) by Ann Brashares 

"Bee's life had been remade at one time. There were fault lines from hen. Bee sprinted along in a torrent of activity, but once in a while, something unexpected slammed her hard. It left Bee slow and uncertain. She fretted. She wasn't good at putting herself back together. Bridge was like a toddler sometimes. She grasped for power. She demanded it. But when she got her way, she was left only with herself, and that terrified her. ... She needed to know someone was looking out for her. She needed someone to promise her that the world wasn't empty."
-from The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (Book 1) by Ann Brashares 

"What happened in front of my friends felt real. What happened to me by myself felt partly dreamed, partly imagined, definitely shifted and warped by my own fears and wants. But who knows? Maybe there is more truth in how you feel than in what actually happens."
-from The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (Book 1) by Ann Brashares 

"There were a million little lines of shading that we couldn't convey so easily. They were the subtle things, and understanding them, even knowing when you missed them, was what separated other friends from real friends, like we were."
-from The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (Book 1) by Ann Brashares 

"Nothing is too wonderful to be true."
-Michael Faraday

"The word friends doesn't seem to stretch big enough to describe how we feel about each other. We forget when one of us starts and the other one stops."
-from The Second Summer of the Sisterhood (Sisterhood of the Traveling Pant, Book 2) by Ann Brashares

"'I think about the person I used to be, and she seems so far away. She walked fast, I walk slow. She stayed up late and got up early, I sleep. I feel like if she gets any farther away, I won't be connected to her at all anymore.' ... 'Do you want ... to stay connected to her?' Tibby's words were slow and quiet, seeming to make their way to Bridge one at a time. Bee had made every effort to change herself this year. Tibby quietly suspected she knew the reason. Bee couldn't outrun her troubles, so she'd entered her own version of the witness protection program.. Tibby knew how it was to lose someone you loved. And she also knew how tempting it was to cast off that sad, ruined part of yourself like a sweater you'd outgrown. 'Do I want to?' Bee thought about the words carefuly. Some people (like Tibby, for instance) tended to listen in a muffled, sheltered way. Bee was the opposite. 'I think I do.'"
-from The Second Summer of the Sisterhood (Sisterhood of the Traveling Pant, Book 2) by Ann Brashares 

"There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find the ways in which you yourself have altered."
-Nelson Mandela

"Fine, blood was thicker than water. But friendship, it struck Tibby, was thicker than both."
-from The Second Summer of the Sisterhood (Sisterhood of the Traveling Pant, Book 2) by Ann Brashares 

"How did you separate attraction from love? And how could you possibly think you loved someone you barely knew and hadn't seen in almost nine months and quite possibly would never see again?"
-from The Second Summer of the Sisterhood (Sisterhood of the Traveling Pant, Book 2) by Ann Brashares 

"Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of the pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing had happened."
-Winston Churchill

"There was a strange thing about her memory, and she had noticed it before this. When she was eleven and the terrible stuff had happened, her brain had sort of erased itself. Everything from that time or before she'd either forgotten completely or remembered as though it had happened to somebody else."
-from The Second Summer of the Sisterhood (Sisterhood of the Traveling Pant, Book 2) by Ann Brashares 

"Lena knew she had spent too much of her life in a state of passive dread, just waiting for something bad to happen. In a life like that, relief was as close as you got to happiness."
-from The Second Summer of the Sisterhood (Sisterhood of the Traveling Pant, Book 2) by Ann Brashares 

"Some things have to be believed to be seen."
-Ralph Hodgson

"Maybe she would see him in the next five minutes. Maybe she would never see him again. She was desperately afraid of both possibilities at the same time."
-from The Second Summer of the Sisterhood (Sisterhood of the Traveling Pant, Book 2) by Ann Brashares 

"'Lena, I know how you are.' Lena wished she knew. 'How am I?' 'If I come close, you run away. If I stay still then maybe, slowly, you might come.'"
-from The Second Summer of the Sisterhood (Sisterhood of the Traveling Pant, Book 2) by Ann Brashares 

What is that you express in your eyes?
It seems to me more than all the words I have read in my life.
-Walt Whitman

"She could sit here and cry for as long as she liked. She could crawl under the desk. She could run around in the paring lot. She could live big. She could make herself do things that were hard. She could. For once, Tibby was right smack in the middle, and she could see a lot better from here."
-from The Second Summer of the Sisterhood (Sisterhood of the Traveling Pant, Book 2) by Ann Brashares 

"Any place at any time, if you are thinking of me, you can be sure that I am thinking of you."
-from The Second Summer of the Sisterhood (Sisterhood of the Traveling Pant, Book 2) by Ann Brashares 

"The bottom had arrived. She crashed against it, but it brought no sense of closure or understanding She just lay there at the bottom looking up. She knew there must be a very tiny circle of light up there somewhere, but just now she couldn't see it."
-from The Second Summer of the Sisterhood (Sisterhood of the Traveling Pant, Book 2) by Ann Brashares 

"Love is a snowmobile racing across the tundra and then suddenly it flips over, pinning you underneath it. At night, the ice weasels come."
-Matt Groening

"Carmen wondered at the silence to create a stronger bond, even, than thousands and thousands of words."
-from The Second Summer of the Sisterhood (Sisterhood of the Traveling Pant, Book 2) by Ann Brashares

we sometimes encounter people, even perfect strangers, who begin to interest us at first sight ... before a word has been spoken ...

Finished the last two books in the Millennium Trilogy this weekend, so those are quoted here ... Then just some other random quotes/lyrics. :) 

"Files are one thing. People are another."
-from The Girl Who Played With Fire (Millennium Trilogy #2) by Stieg Larsson

"There are no innocents. There are, however, different degrees of responsibility."
-from The Girl Who Played With Fire (Millennium Trilogy #2) by Stieg Larsson

"We sometimes encounter people, even perfect strangers, who begin to interest us at first sight, somehow suddenly, all at once, before a word has been spoken.-Fyodor Dostoevsky 

You put your eyes on me in this moment
Now capture it
Remember it
-"Fearless" by Taylor Swift

"If she continued to heal at the same pace, she would leave the hospital with only a scar ... but with no other visible damage. Scars on her soul were another matter."
-from The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest (Millennium Trilogy #3) by Stieg Larsson

"Strangely enough (despite your personality), you have a number of loyal idiots working on your behalf. I have already established an elite body called The Knights of the Idiotic Table. We will be holding an annual dinner at which we'll have fun talking crap about you. (No, you're not invited.)"

-from The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest (Millennium Trilogy #3) by Stieg Larsson

"That was just the way she usually functioned. She would be fascinated by a problem, but as soon as she solved it, she lost interest."

-from The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest (Millennium Trilogy #3) by Stieg Larsson 


"It was a pleasant yet unsettling feeling. there he was, but he was not a stable element in her life yet."

-from The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest (Millennium Trilogy #3) by Stieg Larsson

"[He] is completely irresponsible when it comes to relationships. He screws his way through life and doesn't seem to grasp how much it can hurt those women who think of him as more than a casual affair."
-from The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest (Millennium Trilogy #3) by Stieg Larsson

my other blogs ...

If you're just here for the quotes, ignore this little section with links and scroll past to my newest post!

If you read this blog and you like the Detroit Tigers (and Detroit in general), check out my Tigers blog.

If you read this blog and you want to hear about my journey with my hilarious and smart Golden Retriever puppy, check out A Journey With Juliette.

once you take that mental leap, the rest is easy ...

So, I've come down with bronchitis, a double ear infection, and pneumonia ... I've been doing a TON of reading and also a lot of re-watching of Glee and Gossip Girl, so there's a bit of that to this post as well. Seventy-two hours and thirty-eight minutes 'til I'm off of mandatory bed rest ...

That's me,
I just keep 'em in stitches
Doubled in half
And though I may be all wrong for a guy
I'm good for a laugh
-"Funny Girl" by Barbra Streisand

"Hold on. I'm looking up aneurysm in our medical dictionary to see if I just had one."
-said by Emily on Gilmore Girls (Episode 1x05, Cinnamon's Wake)

Don't wanna just make love,
I wanna make love last
-"Don't You Wanna Stay?" by Kelly Clarkson and Jason Aldean

"People thought I went on vacation, but I really spent the summer lost in the sewers."
-said by Brittany on Glee (Episode 2x01, Audition)

"Stop sweating and close your pores, Kirky. I always forgive ... Once."
-said by Miss Patty on Gilmore Girls (Episode 1x05, Cinnamon's Wake)


"Now my uncle, he didn't say much to me, but the one thing he did say was that if there's something in your gut that you know you feel is right you gotta go after it, no matter what. What do you say?"
-said by Max on Gilmore Girls (Episode 1x05, Cinnamon's Wake)

Those schoolgirl days, of telling tales and biting nails are gone,
But in my mind,
I know they will still live on and on,
But how do you thank someone, who has taken you from crayons to perfume?
It isn't easy, but I'll try,
If you wanted the sky I would write across the sky in letters,
That would soar a thousand feet high,
To Sir, with Love
The time has come,
For closing books and long last looks must end,
And as I leave,
I know that I am leaving my best friend,
A friend who taught me right from wrong,
And weak from strong,
That's a lot to learn,
What, what can I give you in return?
-"To Sir, With Love" by Lulu

"I hadn't realized that Mia and Kim were a package deal, one with the other. Lose one, lose the other. But then, how else would it be?"
-from Where She Went (If I Stay, #2) by Gayle Forman


"I'll be your mess, you be mine."
-from Where She Went (If I Stay, #2) by Gayle Forman

"I know better. So if I want to prove I have a brain, if I want to play in the sunshine, so to speak, it's up to me to find the project that breaks me out. ... It's all about control, really."
-from Where She Went (If I Stay, #2) by Gayle Forman

"Even at the start when we were in that can't-get-enough-of-you phase, there was like some invisible wall between us. At first, I tried to take it down, but it took so much effort to even make cracks. And then I got tired of trying. Then I justified it. This was just how adult relationships were, how love felt once you had a few battle scars."
-from Where She Went (If I Stay, #2) by Gayle Forman

"The truth is, there isn't any avoiding Mia's ghost. Bryn and I wouldn't even be together if it weren't for her. In that twisted, incestuous way of fate, Mia's a part of our history, and we're among the shards of her legacy."
-from Where She Went (If I Stay, #2) by Gayle Forman

"I thought we were trying to find a way to make it forever, the kind that, had we met five years later ... or had our lives not been ripped apart by all this -- I was pretty sure it would've been. I've come to realize there's a world of difference between knowing something happened, even knowing why it happened, and believing it. Because when she cut off contact, yeah, I knew it happened. But it took me a long, long time to believe it. Some days, I still don't quite believe it."
-from Where She Went (If I Stay, #2) by Gayle Forman

"Ancient history? Have you really relegated us to the trash of the heap of that Dumb High-School romance? And if that's case, why the hell can't I do the same?"
-from Where She Went (If I Stay, #2) by Gayle Forman

"Quitting's not hard. Deciding to quit is hard. Once you take that mental leap, the rest is easy."
-from Where She Went (If I Stay, #2) by Gayle Forman

"You talked to me, but you didn't. I could see you having these two-sided conversations. The things you wanted to say to me. And the words that actually came out."
-from Where She Went (If I Stay, #2) by Gayle Forman

"Letting go. Everyone talks about it like it's the easiest thing. Unfurl your fingers one by one until your hand is open. But my hand has been clenched into a fist for three years now; it's frozen shut."
-from Where She Went (If I Stay, #2) by Gayle Forman

"I think I'm kind of getting the concept of closure. It's no big dramatic before-after. It's more like that melancholy feeling you get at the end of a really good vacation. Something special is ending, and you're sad, but you can't be that sad because, hey, it was good while it lasted, and there'll be other vacations, other good times."
-from Where She Went (If I Stay, #2) by Gayle Forman

"'But ... I thought you hated me?' Mia lets out a long, deep sigh. 'I know. I needed someone to hate, and you're the one I loved the most, so it fell to you.'"
-from Where She Went (If I Stay, #2) by Gayle Forman

"I don't hate you. I don't think I ever really did. It was just anger. And once I faced it head-on, once I
understood it, it dissipated."
-from Where She Went (If I Stay, #2) by Gayle Forman

"You know, I thought about you a lot these last couple of years ... About who was there for you. Who held your hand while you grieved for all that you'd lost. ... It's my turn to see you through."
-from Where She Went (If I Stay, #2) by Gayle Forman

"When I get closer to the side of the stage, I see her there ... I get close enough to see her eyes ... And she smiles at me, and it's like we're the only two people out here, the only ones who know what's happening."
-from Where She Went (If I Stay, #2) by Gayle Forman

a broken promise ...

Just a couple for tonight. I'm super, super sick ...

"It felt like a broken promise. Like Fisher King's wound. It never heals."
-said by Shelby on Glee (Episode 1x19, Theatricality)

"You're still that sixteen year old boy to me. You always will be."
-said by Terri on Glee (Episode 1x20, Funk)

Mr. Schuester: "Rachel, you still seem mad about Jesse."
Rachel: "I want him to be eaten by a lion."
-from Glee (Episode 1x20, Funk)

i know when the stars are aligned you can bump into a person in the middle of the road, look into their eyes and you suddenly know

"I had a cold and I took all my antibiotics at the same time and now, I can't remember how to."
-said by Brittany on Glee (Episode 1x17, Bad Reputation)

"I'm gonna ask you to stop, because I'm starting to get embarrassed for you."
-said by Mercedes on Glee (Episode 1x18, Laryngitis)

Burt Hummel: "If things get serious, use protection."
Brittany: "Does he mean like a burglar alarm?"
-said by Brittany on Glee (Episode 1x18, Laryngitis)

I'm on the edge of glory
And I'm hanging on a moment of truth
I'm on the edge of glroy
And I'm hanging on a moment of you
-"Edge of Glory" by Lady Gaga

No words
My tears won't make any room for them, oh
And it don't hurt
Like anything I've ever felt before
This is no broken heart
No familiar scars
This territory's uncharted
... Follow if you want
I won't just hang around
Like you'll show me where to go
I'm already out of fool proof ideas
So don't ask me how to get started
It's all uncharted ...
I won't go as a passenger, no
Waiting for the road to be laid
Though I may be going down
I'll take in flame over burning out
-"Uncharted" by Sara Bareilles

I've been a lot of places all around the way
I've seen a lot of joy, and I've seen a lot of pain
But I don't wanna write a love song for the world
I just wanna write a song about a boy and a girl ...
I know when the stars are aligned you can
Bump into a person in the middle of the road
Look into their eyes and you suddenly know
-"Say Hey (I Love You)" by Michael Franti

"'But seriously, how do you get over the jitters?' Dad was still smiling but I could tell he had turned serious because he slowed his speech. 'You don't. You just work through it. You just hang in there.'"
-from If I Stay by Gayle Forman

"I thought that getting to this part was the challenge. In books and movies, the stories always end when two people finally have their romantic kiss. The happily-ever-after part is just assumed."
-from If I Stay by Gayle Forman


"She's running the show. Maybe she's just biding her tie. So you talk to her. You tell her to take all the time she needs, but to come on back. You're waiting for her."
-from If I Stay by Gayle Forman

"Guys who'd never given me a second glance did a double take. And every time that happened, I felt a little bit more like the risky sexy chick I was pretending to be. Fake it till you make it actually worked."
-from If I Stay by Gayle Forman

"Mom was so ferociously protective of people she loved, so much that she took insults upon them personally."

-from If I Stay by Gayle Forman

"I'd played that part of my life out It was time. I didn't even think twice about it ... Sometimes you make choice in life and sometimes the choices make you."

-from If I Stay by Gayle Forman

"I never expected to fall in love. I was never the kind of girl who had crushes on rock stars or fantasies about marrying Brad Pitt. I sort of vaguely knew that one day I'd have a boyfriend (in college, if Kim's prediction was anything to go by) and get married. I wasn't totally immune to the charms of the opposite sex, but I wasn't one of those romantic, swoony girls who had pink fluffy day day dreams about falling in love. Even as I was falling in love -- full throttle, intense, can't-erase-that-goofy-smile-love -- I didn't really register what was happening."

-from If I Stay by Gayle Forman

"It wasn't even a fight, really. We didn't shout. We barely even argued, but a snake of tension quietly slithered into our lives."
-from If I Stay by Gayle Forman

"I hadn't really expected much to change. He'd still live nearby. We'd still see each other all the time. I'd miss our little powwows in the music wing, but I would also be relieved to have our relationship out from under the microscope of high school."
-from If I Stay by Gayle Forman

"'I remember last year when Adam came over for Christmas Eve, I'd told your father that you'd fallen in love too soon.' 'I know, I know. What does a dumb kid know about love?' Mom stopped drying a skillet. 'That's not what I meant. The opposite, really. You and Adam never struck me as a 'high-school' relationship,' Mom said, making quote marks with her hands. ... 'You guys seemed, still seem, in love, truly, deeply.' She sighed. 'But seventeen is an inconvenient time to be in love.'"
-from If I Stay by Gayle Forman

"Remembering Adam would be like losing him all over again, and I'm not sure I can bear that on top of everything else."
-from If I Stay by Gayle Forman

"I have a feeling that once you live through something like this, you become a little bit invincible."
-from If I Stay by Gayle Forman

"Suddenly I just need to hold his hand more than I've ever needed anything in this world. Not just be held by it, but hold it back."
-from If I Stay by Gayle Forman

He slept a summer by my side
He filled my days with endless wonder
He took my childhood in his stride
But he was gone when autumn came
-"I Dreamed a Dream" from Les Miserables

all things are possible for those who believe ...

Finished The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo this weekend, so I'll be quoting that. Also, Shoshana Bean (who has played Elphaba in the musical Wicked) Tweeted to her followers this weekend looking for good quotes about faith. That got me looking for some of my favorites, so I'll be adding those, too. :)

"The fact was that they functioned well together and they had a connection as addictive as heroin. Sometimes they were together so often that it felt as though they really were a couple; sometimes weeks and months would go by before they saw each other. But even as alcoholics are drawn to the state liquor store after a stint on the wagon, they always came back together. Inevitably, it did not work in the long run. That kind of relationship was almost bound to cause pain. They had both left broken promises and unhappy lovers behind."
-from The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

"People always have secrets. It's just a matter of finding out what they are."
 -from The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

"He never says anything original; he always jumps on the bandwagon and casts the final stone with the most damaging terms he can get away with."
-from The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson 

"Never engage in a fight you're sure to lose. On the other hand, never let anyone who has insulted you get away with it. Bide your time and strike back when you're in a position of strength -- even if you no longer need to strike back."
-from The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson 

"The problem was that asking for advice meant that she would have to confide in someone, which in turn would mean revealing her secrets. Who should she tell? She was simply not very good at establishing contact with other people."
-from The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson 

"She found one article published by a women's group in the United States in which the author claimed that the sadist chose his 'relationships' with almost intuitive precision; the sadist's best victim was the one who voluntarily went to him because she did not think she had any choice. The sadist specialized in people who were in a position of dependence. Advokat Bjurman had chosen her as a victim. That
told her something about the way she was viewed by other people."
-from The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson 

"She always seemed to settle on the most obscure and contradictory details."
-from The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson 

"There was a whole army of people who seemed not to have anything better to do than to try to disrupt her life, and, if they were given the opportunity, to correct the way she had chosen to live it. It did no good to cry, she learned that early on. She had also learned that every time she tried to make someone aware of something in her life, the situation only got worse. Consequently it was up to her to solve her problems by herself, using whatever methods she deemed necessary."
-from The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson 

"She really just wanted his company. She wanted to hear him say that he liked her for who she was. That she was someone special in his world and in his life. She wanted him to give her some gesture of love, not just of friendship and companionship. I'm flipping out, she thought. She had no faith in herself. Blomkvist lived in a world populated by people with respectable jobs, people with ordinary lives and lots of grown-up points. His friends did things, went on TV, and shaped headlines. What do you need me for? Salandar's greatest fear, which was so huge and so black that it was of phobic proportions, was that people would laugh at her feelings. And all of a sudden all her carefully constructed self-confidence seemed to crumble. That's when she made up her mind. It took her several hours to mobilize the necessary courage, but she had to see him and tell him how she felt."
-from The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson 

"Keep your dreams alive. Understand to achieve anything requires faith and belief in yourself, vision, hard work, determination, and dedication. Remember all things are possible for those who believe."
-Gail Devers

"You block your dream when you allow your fear to grow bigger than your faith."-Mary Manin Morrissey

"Faith is like a radar that sees through the fog."
-Corrie Ten Boom

"Reason is our soul's left hand; Faith her right."
-John Donne

"Faithless is he that says farewell when the road darkens."
-J.R.R. Tolkien

"At the point where hope would otherwise become hopelessness, it becomes faith."
-Robert Brault

"Faith is believing that the outcome will be what it should be, no matter what it is."
-Colette Baron-Reid

"Feed your faith and your fears will starve to death."
-Unknown

i'm through accepting limits 'cause someone says they're so. somethings i cannot change, but 'til i try, i'll never know ...

More lyrics, more Glee ... :)

Something has changed within me
Something is not the same
I'm through with playing by the rules of someone else's game
Too late for second guessing,
Too late to go back to sleep
It's time to trust my instincts,
Close my eyes and leap
It's time to try defying gravity
I think I'll try defying gravity
And you can't pull me down ...
I'm through accepting limits,
'Cause someone says they're so
Some things I cannot change,
But 'til I try I'll never know
Too long I've been afraid of
Losing love I guess I've lost
Well if that's love it comes at much too high a cost
I'd sooner buy defying gravity,
Kiss me goodbye I'm defying gravity,
And you can't pull me down ...
So if you care to find me,
Look to the western sky,
As someone told me lately,
Everyone deserves a chance to fly
And if I'm flying solo,
At least I'm flying free,
To those who ground me
Take a message back from me
Tell them how I am defying gravity,
I'm flying high,
Defying gravity,
And soon I'll match them in renown
-"Defying Gravity" from the musical Wicked as sung by Elphaba (originated by Idina Menzel)

"He's cheating off of a girl who thinks the square root of four is rainbows."
-said by Kurt on Glee (Episode 1x10 - Ballad)

"Most of the time, I find it hard to be in the same room with you, especially this one, which looks like where Strawberry Shortcake and Holly Hobbie come to hook-up."
-said by Kurt on Glee (Episode 1x11 - Hairography)

"You look like a sad clown hooker."
-said by Finn on Glee (Episode 1x11 - Hairography)

"Ken has a lot of flaws. He has 74 flaws as of yesterday."
-said by Emma on Glee (Episode 1x12 - Mattress)

Keep on smiling,
'Cause when you're smiling,
The whole world smiles with you
-"When You're Smiling" by Frank Sinatra

Smile though your heart is aching
Smile even though it's breaking,
When there are clouds in the sky,
You'll get by
If you smile through your fear and smile
Smile and maybe tomorrow,
You'll see the sun come shining through for you
-"Smile" by Nat King Cole

"I want you to be happy, Finn. And when you care about someone, you can't sit around and watch them suffer when you know that you can do something about it."
-said by Rachel on Glee (Episode 1x13 - Sectionals)

"Being a part of something special makes you special."
-said by Rachel on Glee (Episode 1x01 - Pilot)

"I realized I had to find this new person inside of me, the one that was okay with what happened. ... That guy who made all those bad choices, who ignored the signs, he's gone. The new, more experienced, more interesting guy is here."
-said by Will on Glee (Episode 1x14 - Hell-O)

"My personality, though exciting and full of surprises, isn't exactly low-maintenance."
-said by Rachel on Glee (Episode 1x14 - Hell-O)

If you wake up and don't want to smile,
If it takes just a little while
Open your eyes and look at the day
You'll see things in a different way
Don't stop thinking about tomorrow,
Don't stop, it'll soon be here
It'll be better than before
Yesterday's gone, yesterday's gone
-"Don't Stop" by Fleetwood Mac

when two such people encounter each other and their eyes meet ... there is only that moment.

Finishing up the quotes from The Alchemist today, as well as several songs and some other Glee quotes. :) 

"'Maktub,' the merchant said, finally. 'What does that mean?' ... 'In your language, it would be something like 'It is written.'"
-from The Alchemist by Paulo Cohelo

"I don't know why these things have to be transmitted by word of mouth, he thought. I wasn't exactly that they were secrets; God revealed his secrets easily to all his creatures. He had only one explanation for this fact: things have to be transmitted this way because they were made up from the pure life, and this kind of life cannot be captured in pictures or words."
-from The Alchemist by Paulo Cohelo 

"The boy thought about his treasure. The closer her got to the realization of his dream, the more difficult things became. It seemed as if what the old king had called 'beginner's luck' were no longer functioning. In his pursuit of the the dream, he was being constantly subjected to tests of his persistence and courage. so he could not be hasty, nor impatient. If he pushed forward impulsively, he would fail to see the signs and omens left by God along his path. God placed the along my path. He had surprised himself with the thought. Until then, he had considered the omens to be things of this world. Like eating or sleeping, or like seeking love or finding a job. He had never thought of them in terms of a language used by God to indicate what he should do."
-from The Alchemist by Paulo Cohelo 

"He learned the most important part of the language that all the world spoke -- the language that everyone on earth was capable of understanding in their heart. It was love. Something older than humanity, more ancient than the desert. Something that exerted the same force whenever two pairs of eyes met, as theirs here at the well. She smiled, and that was certainly an omen -- the omen he had been awaiting, without even knowing he was, for all his life. ... It was the pure Language of the World. It required no explanation, just as the universe needs none as it travels through time. ... When you know that language, it's easy to understand that someone in the world awaits you, whether it's in the middle of the desert or in some great city. And when two such people encounter each other, and their eyes meet, the past and the future become unimportant. There is only that moment, and the incredibly certainty that everything under the sun has been written by one hand only. It is the hand that evokes love, and creates a twin soul for every person in the world. Without such love, one's dreams would have no meaning."
-from The Alchemist by Paulo Cohelo 

"'The day after we met,' Fatima said, 'you told me that you loved me. Then, you taught me something of the universal language and the Soul of the World. Because of that, I have become a part of you. ... I have been waiting for you here at this oasis for a long time. I have forgotten about my past, about my traditions, and the way in which men of the desert expect women to behave. Ever since I was a child, I have dreamed that the desert would bring me a wonderful present. Now, my present has arrived, and it's you. ... That's why I want you to continue toward your goal. If you have to wait until the war is over, then wait. But if you have to go before then, go on in pursuit of your dream. The dunes are changed by the wind, but the desert never changes. That's the way it will be with our love for each other. ... If I am really a part of your dream, you'll come back one day."
-from The Alchemist by Paulo Cohelo 

"When you are in love, things make even more sense, he thought."
-from The Alchemist by Paulo Cohelo 

"Whoever believe in dreams also knows how to interpret them."
-from The Alchemist by Paulo Cohelo 

"'Fatima is a woman of the desert,' said the alchemist. 'She knows that men have to go away in order to return. And she already has her treasure: it's you. Now she expects that you will find what it is you're looking for."
-from The Alchemist by Paulo Cohelo 

"If what one finds is made of pure matter, it will never spoil. And one can always come back. If what you found was only a moment of light, like the explosion of a star, you would find nothing on your return."
-from The Alchemist by Paulo Cohelo 

"'There is only one way to learn,' the alchemist answered. 'It's through action. Everything you need to know you have learne dthrough your journey. You need to learn only one thing more.'"
-from The Alchemist by Paulo Cohelo 

"'My heart is a traitor,' the boy said to the alchemist, when they had paused to rest the horses. 'It doesn't want me to go on.' 'That makes sense,' the alchemist answered. 'Naturally it's afraid that, in pursuing your dream, you might lose everything you've won.' 'Well, then, why should I listen to my heart?' 'Because you will never again be able to keep it quiet. Even if you pretend not to have heard what it tells you, it will always be there inside of you, repeating to you what you're thinking about life and the world.' 'You mean I should listen, even it it's treasonous?' 'Treason is a blow that comes unexpectedly. If you know your heart well, it will never be able to do that to you. Because you'll know its dreams and wishes, and will know how to deal with them. You will never be able to escape from your heart. So it's better to listen to what it has to say. That way, you'll never have to fear an unanticipated blow."
-from The Alchemist by Paulo Cohelo 
 
"'Even thought I complain sometimes,' it said, 'it's because I'm the heart of a person, and people's hearts are that way. People are afraid to pursue their most important dreams, because they feel that they don't deserve them, or they they'll be unable to achieve them. We, their hearts, become fearful just thinking of loved ones who go away forever, or of moments that could have been good but weren't, or of treasures that might have been found but were forever hidden in the sands. Because when these things happen, we suffer terribly.' 'My heart is afraid that it will have to suffer,' the boy told the alchemist one night. 'Tell your heart that the fear of suffering is worse than the suffering itself. And that no heart has ever suffered when it goes in search if its dreams, because every second of the search is a second's encounter with God and with eternity."
-from The Alchemist by Paulo Cohelo 

"When I have been truly searching for my treasure, I've discovered things along the way that I never would have seen had I not had the courage to try things that seemed impossible."
-from The Alchemist by Paulo Cohelo 

"What you still need to know is this: before a dream is realized, the Soul of the World tests everything that was learned along the way. It does this not because it is evil, but so that we can, in addition to realizing our dreams, master the lessons we've learned as we've moved toward that dream. That's the point at which most people give up. It's the point at which, as we say in the language of the desert, one 'dies of thirst just when the palm trees have appeared on horizon.' Every search begins with beginner's luck. And every search ends with the victor's being severely tested."
-from The Alchemist by Paulo Cohelo 

"When you possess great treasures within you, and try to tell otehrs of them, seldom are you believed."
-from The Alchemist by Paulo Cohelo 

"When you are loved, you can do anything in creation. When you are loved, there's no need at all to understand what's happening, because everything happens within you."
-from The Alchemist by Paulo Cohelo 

"Everything that happens once can never happen again. But everything that happens twice will surely happen a third time."
-from The Alchemist by Paulo Cohelo 

"I want everything too much."
-said by Rachel Berry on Glee (Episode 1x08 - Mash Up)

"Life's a series of choices, a big combination of moments. Little ones that add up to big ones that create who you are."
-said by Will Schuester on Glee (Episode 1x08 - Mash Up)

"Leaders are supposed to see things that other guys don’t, right? Like they can imagine a future where things are better. Like Thomas Jefferson or that kid from the terminator movies, I see a future where it's cool to be in Glee club, where you can play football, ad where you can sing and dance and no one gets down on you for it. Where the more different you are the better."
-said by Finn Hudson on Glee (Episode 1x08 - Mash Up)

Hit me like a ray of sun
Burning through my darkest night
You're the only one that I want
Think I'm addicted to your light
-"Halo" by Beyonce

You're not alone
Together we stand
I'll be by your side, you know I'll take your hand
When it gets cold and it feels like the end
There's no place to go, you know I won't give in ...
So far away, I wish you were here
Before it's too late this could all disappear
Before the door's closed and it comes to an end
With you by my side, I will fight and defend
-"Keep Holding On" by Avril Lavigne

You can't always get what you want
But if you try sometimes, you just might find
You get what you need
-"You Can't Always Get What You Want" by The Rolling Stones

Where it began, I can't begin to know when
But then I know it's growing strong
Was in the spring, and spring became summer
Who'd have believed you'd come along?
-"Sweet Caroline" by Neil Diamond

Your smile just captured me, and you were in my future as far as I could see
And I don't know how it happened, but it happened still ...
Well, you had me from hello,
I felt love start to grow,
The moment that I looked into your eyes, I knew it
It was over from the start
You completely stole my heart
And now you won't let go
I never even had a chance you know,
You had me from hello
-"You Had Me From Hello" by Kenny Chesney

I've been telling my dreams to the scarecrow
About the places that I would like to see
I said "Friend, do you think I'll ever get there?"
Oh, but he just stands there smiling back at me
So I confessed my sins to the preacher,
About the love I've been praying to find
"Is there a brown-eyed boy in my future?"
He said, "Girl, you've got nothing but time."
But how do you wait for heaven?
And who has that much time?
And how do you keep your feet on the ground,
When you know you were born to fly?
My daddy he is grounded like the oak tree,
My momma she is steady as the sun,
Oh you know I love my folks,
But I'm keep staring down the road,
Just looking for my one chance to run
'Cause I will soar away like the blackbird
I will blow in the wind like a seed
I will plant my heart in the garden of my dreams
And I will grow up where I wander, wild and free
-"Born to Fly" by Sara Evans

i don't know if i'll make it, but watch how good i'll fake it

A few new ones for tonight ...

"If you can sing and dance in front of people, everything else is easy."
-from Glee (Episode 1x04 - Preggers)

"It's not easy to break out of your comfort zone. People will tear you down, tell you you shouldn't have bothered in the first place. But let me tell you something: There's not much of a difference between a stadium full of cheering fans and an angry crowd screaming abuse at you. They're both just making a lot of noise. How you take it is up to you. Convince yourself they're cheering for you. You do that, and someday, they will."
-from Glee (Episode 1x04 - Preggers)

All the odds are in my favor
Something's bound to begin
It's got to happen, happen sometime
Maybe this time I'll win
-"Maybe This Time" from Cabaret

"Your lack of imagination astounds me! This is only the beginning. If you can master this, you can sneak anything out of a store between your knees. Shoes, prom dresses -- I once got a cake out of a kid's birthday party with the candles still lit."
-from Glee (Episode 1x05 - The Rhodes Not Taken)

Emma: "Kurt, I'm a girl who knows her solvents and your breath smells like rubbing alcohol."
Kurt: "Oh, Bambi. I cried so hard when those hunters shot your mommy."
-from Glee (Episode 1x05 - The Rhodes Not Taken)

"I hope you have fun playing house with Quinn while you languish in your little ensemble. But my dreams are bigger than that and bigger than you."
-from Glee (Episode 1x05 - The Rhodes Not Taken)

It's hard to fight these feelings when it's so hard to breathe
Caught up in this moment,
Caught up in your smile ...
Just a shot in the dark that you just might
Be the one I've been waiting for my whole life
-"Just a Kiss" by Lady Antebellum

I don't know if I'll make it, but watch how good I'll fake it
-"Tonight, Tonight" by Hot Chelle Rae

"But everybody deserves their moment in the spotlight, you know, to shine? Oh, I got that standing ovation, Will. And it felt amazing. Like every bad decision I'd ever made just went away. I was back in the game."
-from Glee (Episode 1x05 - The Rhodes Not Taken)

the sparks will fly, one look in your eyes ...

Don't know much about your life
Don't know much about your world
But don't wanna be alone tonight
On this planet they call Earth
You don't know about my past,
And I don't have a future figured out,
And maybe this is going too fast
And maybe it's not meant to last
But what do you say to taking chances?
What do you say to jumping off the edge?
Never knowing if there's solid ground below
Or a hand to hold or hell to pay
-"Taking Chances" by Celine Dion

And this time will be bigger and brighter than we knew it
So watch me fly, we all know I can do it
Could I stop my hand from shaking?
Has there ever been a moment
With so much to live for?
-"As If We Never Said Goodbye" by Barbara Streisand

There's question marks hanging over us
But we won't give them the time of day
'Cause all we got is these few stolen seconds
And we can't let them go to waste
The stars collide
We come back to life, we come back to life
The sparks will fly
One look in your eyes
My heart's wide open
I know time's running out now
But we'll hold back the sun somehow
-"Still Got Tonight" by Matthew Morrison

on the loose to live my life, the way I think my life should be ...

As you'll be able to tell from this entry, I'm in a camp kind of mood. For those of you who don't know, I spent my summers growing up at a couple camps, one still standing, but not in use, and one that was sold off to a developer to parceled off the land but has mostly been unable to sell it. I've been there once, but I kind of want to go by myself to just think ... try to find areas I recognize, without the cabins or pavilions that used to be there. I haven't been in awhile, and it's definitely coming up on time for me to go. Every time I smell a bonfire, I think of it. The first reasonably cool weekday I can find to go hike, I will.

I've also gotten into Glee recently, so that'll be evident here, too.

"You think this is hard? Try being waterboarded. That's hard!"
-Sue Sylvester from Glee (Episode 1x01 - Pilot)

"The only life worth living is the one you're really passionate about."
-Emma Pillsbury from Glee (Episode 1x01 - Pilot)

For you, there'll be no crying
For you, the sun will be shining
'Cause I feel that when I'm with you
It's alright, I know it's right
And the songbirds keep singing
Like they know the score
And I love you, I love you, I love you
Like never before
-"Songbirds" by Eva Cassidy

The flicker of the campfire, the wind in the pines
The moon in the heavens, the stars that shine
A place where people gather to make friends of all kinds
A place where all our troubles are always left behind
So give me the light of the campfire, warm and bright
Give me some friends to sing with, I'll be here all night
If love is for those who find it, I've found mine right here
Just you and me and the campfire, and the songs we love to hear
-"Flicker" (a camp song)

Did you ever watch the sunrise turn the sky completely red?
Have you slept beneath the moon and stars, a pine bough for your bed?
Did you sit and talk with friends, though a word was never said?
Then you're just like me, and you've been on the loose
On the loose to climb a mountain
On the loose where I am free
On the loose to live my life, the way I think my life should be
For I've only got a moment and the whole world left to see
I'll be looking for tomorrow on the loose
There's a trail that I'll be hiking just to see where it might go
Many places yet to visit
Many people yet to know,
For in following my dreams,
I will learn and I will grow
For a trail that's waiting out there on the loose
-"On the Loose" (a camp song)

Please won't you catch a shooting star for me
And take it with you on your way
Though it seems that we just met, you're the one I won't forget
Hope some kind wind blows you back my way
And I was thinking maybe somewhere later down the road
After all our stories have been told
I'll sit and think of you
The dear friend I once knew
Shot through my life like a shooting star
-"Shooting Star" (a camp song)

i'm like everyone else -- i see the world in terms of what i would like to happen, not what actually does

"All our young lives, we search for someone to love, someone who makes us complete. We choose partners and change partners. We dance to a song of heartbreak and hope, all the while wondering if somewhere, somehow, there's someone perfect who might be searching for us."
-The Wonder Years

"Whoever you are, or whatever it is that you do, when you really want something, it's because that desire originated in the soul of the universe. It's your mission on earth."
-from The Alchemist by Paulo Cohelo

"If you start out by promising what you don't even have yet, you'll lose your desire to work toward getting it."
-from The Alchemist by Paulo Cohelo

"Here I am, between my flock and my treasure, the boy thought. He had to choose between something he had become accustomed to and something he wanted to have. There was also the merchant's daughter, but she wasn't as important as his flock, because she didn't depend on him. Maybe she didn't even remember him. He was sure that it made no difference to her on which day he appeared: for her, every day was the same, and when each day is the same as the next, it's because people fail to recognize the good things that happen in their life every day that the sun rises."
-from The Alchemist by Paulo Cohelo

"It's called the principle of favorabiity. When you play cards the first time, you are almost sure to win. Beginner's luck. ... There is a force that wants you to realize your Personal Legend; it whets your appetite with a taste of success."
-from The Alchemist by Paulo Cohelo

"He wept because God was unfair, and because this was the way God repaid those who believed in their dreams."
-from The Alchemist by Paulo Cohelo

"I'm like everyone else -- I see the world in terms of what I would like to happen, not what actually does."
-from The Alchemist by Paulo Cohelo

"There must be a language that doesn't depend on words, the boy thought."
-from The Alchemist by Paulo Cohelo

"It's the thought of Mecca that keeps me alive. That's what helps me face these days that are all the same, these mute crystals on the shelves, and lunch and dinner at that same horrible cafe. I'm afraid that if my dream is realized, I'll have no reason to go on living."
-from The Alchemist by Paulo Cohelo

"He still had some doubts about the decision he had made. But he was able to understand one thing: making a decision was only the beginning of things. When someone makes a decision, he is really diving into a strong current that will carry him to places he had never dreamed of when he first made the decision."
-from The Alchemist by Paulo Cohelo

"Intuition is really a sudden immersion of the soul into the universal current of life, where all the histories of all people are connected, and we are able to know everything, because it's all written there."
-from The Alchemist by Paulo Cohelo

"People need not fear the unknown if they are capable of achieving what they need and want."
-from The Alchemist by Paulo Cohelo

"There is a principle that governs all things ... In alchemy, it's called the Soul of the World. When you want something with all your heart, that's when you are closest to the Soul of the World. It's always a positive force."
-from The Alchemist by Paulo Cohelo

"I left behind a glass slipper and a business card, in case the prince is really dumb."
-from Gilmore Girls (Episode 2x06 - Presenting Lorelai Gilmore)

"See, here's what's going to go down -- two choices: You stay here and I crack one of your nuts, right or left, that's your choice. Or you walk away, and live to be a douchebag another day."
-from Glee (Episode 2x17 - Night of Neglect)

Under haunted skies I see,
Where love is lost, your ghost is found
I've braved a hundred storms to leave you
As hard as you try, no, I will never be knocked down
-"Turning Tables" by Adele

There I was again tonight
Forcing laughter faking smiles
Same old tired lonely place
Walls of insincerity
Shifting eyes and vacany
Vanished when I saw your face
All I can say is I was enchanted to meet you
Your eyes whispered have we met
Across the room your silhouette starts to make it's way to me
The playful conversation starts
Counter all your quick remarks
Like passing notes in secrecy
And it was enchanting to meet you
All I can say is I was enchanted to meet you
This night is sparkling don't you let it go
I'm wonder-struck, blushing all the way home,
I'll spend forever wondering if you know
I was enchanted to meet you
Lingering question keeps me up
2 a.m., who do you love?
I wonder 'til I'm wide awake
Now I'm pacing back and forth
Wishing you were at my door
I'd open up and you would say
It was enchanting to meet you
All I can say is I was enchanted to meet you ..
This is me praying that
This was the very first page
Not where the storyline ends
My thoughts will echo your name
Until I see you again
These are the words I held back as I was leaving too soon
I was enchanted to meet you ...
Please don't be in love with someone else
Please don't have somebody waiting on you
Please don't be in love with someone else
Please don't have somebody waiting on you
-"Enchanted" by Taylor Swift

The way you move is a like a full on rainstorm
And I'm a house of cards
You're the kind of reckless that should send me running
But I kind of know that I won't get far
You stood there in front of me just close enough to touch
Close enough to hope you couldn't see what I was thinking of
Drop everything now
Meet me in the pouring rain
Kiss me on the sidewalk, take away the pain
'Cause I see sparks fly
Whenever you smile
Get me with those green eyes baby as the lights go down
Give me something that'll haunt me when you're not around
'Cause I see sparks fly
Whenever you smile
... You touched me once and it was really something
You find I'm even better than you imagined I would feel ...
Just keep on keeping your eyes on me,
It's just wrong enough to make you feel right,
And lead me up the staircase baby,
Won't you whisper soft and slow,
I'm captivated by you baby
Like a fireworks show
-"Sparks Fly" by Taylor Swift

I'm trying so hard not to get caught up now
But you're just so cool, run your fingers through your hair
Absentmindedly making me want you
-"Fearless" by Taylor Swift

I wish I could tie you up in my shoes
Make you feel un-pretty too
I was told I was beauitful
But what does that mean to you?
Look into the mirror who's inside there?
The one with the long hair
Same old me again today
My outsides are cool, my insides are blue
Every time I think I'm through
It's because of you
I try different ways, but it's all the same
At the end of the day, I have myself to blame
I'm just trippin'
You can buy you hair if it won't grow
You can fix your nose if he says so
You can buy all the makeup that MAC can make
But if you can't look inside you, find out who am I to
Be in a position to make me feel so damn un-pretty
-"Unpretty" covered by Dianna Agron & Lea Michele (originally by TLC)

whenever we do something that fills us with enthusiasm, we are following our legend.

First few quotes from The Alchemist, which is absolutely amazing, and then some Sparky Anderson love. :)

"Whenever we are doing something that fills us with enthusiasm, we are following our legend."
-from Paulo Cohelo's introduction to The Alchemist

"It is the possibility of having a dream come true that makes life interesting."
-from The Alchemist by Paulo Cohelo

"Dreams are the language of God. When he speaks in our language, I can interpret what he has said. But if he speaks in the language of the soul, it is only you who can understand."
-from The Alchemist by Paulo Cohelo

"It's the simple things in life that are the most extraordinary; only wise men are able to understand them."
-from The Alchemist by Paulo Cohelo

"If someone isn't what others want them to be, the others become angry. Everyone seems to have a clear idea of how other people should lead their lives, but none about his or her own."
-from The Alchemist by Paulo Cohelo

"'What's the world's greatest lie?' the boy asked, completely surprised. 'It is this: that a certain point in our lives, we lose control of what is happening to us, and our lives become controlled by fate. That's the world's greatest lie.'"
-from The Alchemist by Paulo Cohelo

"Everyone, when they are young, knows what their Personal Legend is. At that point in their lives, everything is clear, and everything is possible. They are not afraid to dream, and to yearn for everything they would like to see hapen to them in their lives. But, as time passes, a mysterious force begins to convince them it will be impossible for them to realize their Personal Legend."
-from The Alchemist by Paulo Cohelo

"Detroiters never surrender."
-Sparky Anderson

"You have to live in Detroit to understand it's a great city."
-Sparky Anderson

"You can be whoever you want to be. You just have to want it bad enough."
-Sparky Anderson

always a tiger ...

It's March 31, 2011 ... 

One hundred and eighty seven days ago, I was there when Comerica Park closed its gates for the summer, and seven days later, the Detroit Tigers ended their season in Baltimore. It's been 180 days since the season ended, and in my opinion, it's been 180 days too long. And sure, we've had spring training exhibition games for a few weeks now, and that is enough to curb my cravings a bit, but I've been ready for these boys to come north for awhile now.


Today is the day that I've been waiting for months. I've waited through endless Snowmageddons. I thought about it as I chipped ice off of my windshield sometimes two and three times a day. I thought about it while I was tailgating at college football games, and missed it while I was watching the Red Wings take the ice. When my Golden Retriever puppy, Juliette, needed to go outside again, in the frozen tundra and the snow was so deep that it got inside my boots that come almost all the way up to my boots, I thought I was literally going to freeze from the inside out. But I closed my eyes, and pretended that I was sitting at a seat on the baseline, and that the bitterly cold wind I was feeling was actually just a gentle summer breeze blowing over the ballpark. Eventually winter would leave, and spring would be here. Or at the very least, baseball would be back. And in seven days, they will be, and I will be there. It's Michigan, so we can't truthfully believe that winter has had it's final say yet, and the Tigers often arrive here with the promise of spring before the actual season decides that it's ready to settle in for good.


So, in honor of the start of baseball season, most especially in honor of the Detroit Tigers, who most believe (myself included) have something really big on the horizon, here are a ton of quotes -- all baseball, sunshine, spring or summer related. Enjoy -- and GO TIGERS!

"It's the first time breaking camp with the team and that's cool. It's an honor and everything. But I fully expected to be here. I did a few things last year. But I also know competition is good for the organization, and I never have a problem with competing. Now, I'm just excited to talk about 2011."
-Brennan Boesch

"I look at what they bring to the party, not the things they don't bring."
-Jim Leyland

"I feel like I'm trying less, but the results are more. Hopefully, I can stay in that good mindset where I feel relaxed, kind of letting the game come to me a little bit."
-Brennan Boesch

"Didn't get the result I wanted, but sometimes the at-bat that doesn't produce a good result, you can learn a lot from."
-Brennan Boesch

"We're not perfect, but we're a pretty good team. I'm happy with the results of spring training in all ways. We're getting the big boys ready, playing the young kids and somewhere around .500 -- it all worked out pretty good. We're like every team -- we're ready to get out of here. Start playing for keeps now."
-Jim Leyland

"From an organizational perspective, we're stronger than we've been since I've been here. I think part of that is, for awhile we had to trade a lot of young players to bring veteran players on board."
-Dave Dombrowski

"I've never really been a platoon or part-time player. My job, I think, is to make it as hard as I can for the Skipper not to put me in the lineup."
-Brennan Boesch

"There are times when a passion burns so strongly, that nothing seems as significant, and the things that should matter fade into the shadows, out-shown by a hero, a hobby or new found love. ... Baseball pulled my life into its orbit, spinning me gloriously into the sport, sending me dreamy journey, alive with promise and populated with Kalines and Lolitchs and Hortons. What I wanted most was to talk baseball. To watch it. To hear it. To read about it. To convert the uninitiated. To fill my hours of all they could hold. My dad understood. He had been similarly enraptured. ... He savored our common passion. ... Early on, I got my first glimpse of Tiger Stadium, the ballpark of my youth; a towering, embracing place. The home to heroes, a keeper of dreams."
-from The Road To Cooperstown by Tom Stanton (this narration was also featured in episode 1x03 of Baseball's Golden Age)

"Baseball is a tongue-tied kid from Georgia growing up to be an announced and praising the Lord for showing him the way to Cooperstown."
-Ernie Harwell

"Baseball is a lot like life. It's a day-to-day existence, full of ups and downs. You make the most of your opportunities in baseball as you do in life."
-Ernie Harwell

"God blessed me by putting me here for thirty-one years at Michigan and Trumbull. I had the greatest job in the world -- a job I loved to do. Bust most of all, I appreciate you fans. I appreciate your loyalty, your support, and your love that you've shown me, especially the love."
-Ernie Harwell

"If I walked back into the booth in the year 2025, I don't think it would have changed much. I think baseball would be played and managed pretty much the same as it is today. It's a great survivor."
-Ernie Harwell

"I love the game because it's so simple, yet it can be so complex. There's a lot of layers to it, but they aren't hard to peel back."
-Ernie Harwell

"The greatest single moment I've ever known in Detroit was Jim Northrup's triple in the seventh game of the World Series in St. Louis. It was a stunning moment because not only were the Tigers winning a world championship that meant so much to an entire city, they were beating the best pitcher I ever saw -- Bob Gibson."
-Ernie Harwell

"Baseball just came as simple as a ball and bat. Yet, as complex as the American spirit it symbolizes. A sport, a business, and sometimes almost even a religion."
-Ernie Harwell

"I love what I do. If I had my time over again, I'd probably do it for nothing."
-Ernie Harwell

"Radio is such a great medium. It makes you use one of the most important things God gave you - imagination. The listener can picture what the announcer is telling you."
-Ernie Harwell

"One of the last true gentlemen, Harwell, to many of us, was more than just a guy calling Tigers games. He was family."
-from lastangryfan.com

"He stood there like the house by the side of the road, and watched it go by."
-a relatively famous Ernie Hawell-ism that he often used while calling games

You've gotta have heartAll you really need is heart
When the odds are sayin' you'll never win
That's when the grin should start
You've gotta have hope
Mustn't sit around and mope
Nothing's half as bad as it may appear
Wait'll next year and hope
When your luck is battin' zero
Get your chin up off the floor
Mister you can bea hero
You can open any door,
There's nothin' to it, but to do it
You've gotta have heart
Miles and miles and miles of heart
Oh, it's fine to be a genius of course
But keep that old horse
Before the cart
First you've gotta have heart
-"Heart" from the musical Damn Yankees

The nights are getting warmer, it won't be long
Won't be long 'til summer comes
Now that the boys are here again
-"The Boys Are Back In Town" by Thin Lizzy

Here comes the sun, here comes the sun,
And I say it's all right
Little darling, it's been a long cold lonely winter
Little darling, it feels like years since it's been here
Here comes the sun, here comes the sun
And I say it's all right
Little darling, the smile's returning to the faces
Little darling, it seems like years since it's been here
Here comes the sun, here comes the sun
And I say it's all right ...
Little darling, I feel that ice is slowly melting
Little darling, it seems like years since it's been clear
Here comes the sun, here comes the sun,
And I say it's all right
It's all right
-"Here Comes the Sun" by the Beatles

Take me out to the ball game
Take me out to the crowd
Buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jack,
I don't care if I ever get back
So let's root, root, root for the Tigers
If they don't win it's a shame
For it's one, two, three strikes you're out,
At the old ball game
-"Take Me Out To The Ball Game" by Jack Norworth

And finally, a classic ...

For, lo, the winter is past,
The rain over and gone;
The flowers appear on the earth;
The time of the singing of the birds is come,
And the voice of the turtle is heard in our land.
-Song of Solomon 2:11 (as Ernie Harwell always read at the beginning of baseball season)

the world you desire can be won. it exists, it is real, it is possible, it is yours.

On to post number two ... First, songs. Then, quotes from One Tree Hill (which, ironically, I have never watched ... I just love the quotes).

Do you ever feel like a plastic bag,
Drifting through the wind,
Wanting to start again?
Do you ever feel, feel so paper thing
Like a house of cards,
One blow from caving in?
Do you ever feel already buried deep
Six-feet under, scream
But no one seems to hear a thing?
Do you know that there's still a chance for you?
'Cause there's a spark in you
You just gotta ignite the light
And let it shine
Just own the night
Like the Fourth of July
'Cause baby you're a firework
Come on, show 'em what you're worth ...
You don't have to feel like a waste of space
You're original, cannot be replaced
If you only knew what the future holds
After a hurricane comes a rainbow
Maybe you're the reason why all the doors are closed
So you could open one that leads you to the perfect road
-"Firework" by Katy Perry

Where do broken hearts go?
Can they find their way home?
Back to the open arms
Of a love that's waiting there
And if somebody loves you
Won't they always love you?
I look in your eyes
And I know that you still care for me.
I've been around enough to know
That dreams don't turn to gold
And that there is no easy way
No, you just can't run away
-"Where Do Broken Hearts Go?" by Whitney Houston

Many nights we prayed
With no proof anyone could hear
In our hearts
A hope, a song
We barely understood
Now we are not afraid
Although we know there's much to fear
We were moving mountains
Long before we knew we could
There can be miracles
When you believe
Though hope is frail, it's hard to kill
Who knows what miracles you can achieve?
When you believe, somehow you will
You will when you believe
In this time of fear
When prayers so often prove in vain
Hope seems like the summer birds
Too swiftly flown away
Yet now I'm standing here
My heart's so full I can't explain
Seeking faith and speaking words I never thought I'd say ...
They don't always happen when you ask
And it's easy to give in to your fears
But when you're blinded by your pain
Can't see your way straight through the rain
A small but still resilient voice
Says hope is very near
-"When You Believe" by Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston

I feel like I should preface these lyrics by saying that I do not feel this way about anyone currently. I just saw the lyrics online a couple of days ago, and it reminded me of my past love life. I could relate. But I'm totally fine and happy now. :) 

I miss your soft lips,
I miss your white sheets,
I miss the scratch of your shaved face on my cheek
And this is so hard
'Cause I didn't see
That you were the love of my life and it kills me
I see your face in strangers on the street
I still say your name when I'm talking in my sleep
And in the long light, I play it all fine
But I can't handle it when I turn off my night light
But I can't handle it when I turn off my night light
They say that true love hurts,
Well, this could almost kill me.
Young love murder,
That is what this must be
I would give it all
To not be sleeping alone
The life is fading from me, while you watch my heart bleed ...
We promised this would last forever,
But now I see
It was my past life,
A beautiful time.
Drunk off of nothing but each other 'til the sunlight
-"The Harold" by Ke$ha

When you meet that certain someone
You've been searching ahrd to find
It's a new love full of passion
That can sometimes make you blind
I don't mind being swept away
If I know right from the start
So before we go much further girl
Can I trust you with my heart?
In the time we've spent together
I have learned to trust in you
So many things you've given,
Before I even asked you to
But reality and romance are sometimes far apart
So what I really need to know is
Can I trust you with my heart?
Can I cast my cares upon you?
Can you stand a heavy load?
Can I count on you to walk me down that long and winding road?
If you can promise me these simple things,
I can guarantee
You can always count on me ...
When two hearts solely surrender
And are sworn to understand
It completes the perfect union between a woman and a man
So please don't misunderstand me,
I don't want to go too far,
Without knowing just one answer can I trust you my heart?
-"Can I Trust You With My Heart?" by Travis Tritt

"Twenty years from now, you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover."
-Mark Twain

"Do not let your fire go out, spark by irreplaceable spark, in the hopeless swamps of the approximate, the not-quite, the not-yet, the not-at-all. Do not let the hero in your soul perish in lonely frustration for the life you deserve, but have never been able to reach. Check your road and the nature of your battle. The world you desire can be won. It exists, it is real, it is possible, it is yours."
-Ayn Rand (but also in One Tree Hill, Episode 1x02)

There is a tide in the affairs of men.Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;
Omitted, all the voyage of their life
Is bound in shallows and in miseries.
On such a full sea are we now afloat,
And we must take the current when it serves,
Or lose our ventures.
-from Julius Caesar by Shakespeare (but also in One Tree Hill, Episode 1x01)

"It's the rule of life: The prettier the girl, the messier the car. Kind of a turn on."
-One Tree Hill (Episode 1x02)

"There's no shame in being afraid. Hell, we're all afraid. What you gotta do is figure out what you're afraid of because when you put a face on it, you can beat it. Better yet, you can use it."
-One Tree Hill (Episode 1x02)

"It's hard to fight the things we are afraid of. Sometimes, we just need a little help."
-One Tree Hill (Episode 1x02)

"To be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you somebody else, is to fight the hardest battle you are ever going to fight. Never stop fighting."
-E.E. Cummings (but also in One Tree Hill, Episode 1x03)

"As happens sometimes, a moment settled and hovered and remained for much more than a moment. And sound stopped and movement stopped for much, much more than a moment. Then gradually, time awakened again and moved sluggishly on."
-from Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck (but also in One Tree Hill, Episode 1x06)

"Best friends can forgive each other over anything."
-One Tree Hill (Episode 1x14)

"I gave you my heart. That's all I can give. And if that's not enough for you, then I'm not enough for you."
-One Tree Hill (Episode 1x21)