Whistling Past the Graveyard

by Susan Crandall

“Sometimes laughin’ is all a body can do, child. It’s laugh or lose your mind.”

“I feel bad for your momma.” My eyes sprung back open. “Why? She’s so awful.” “ ’Cause she’ll never know what she missin’ in not knowin’ you.”

Someday I might cry about Lulu again, but not for a long time. I had to hold on to the mad so the sad didn’t drown me.

“A child only want one thing: her momma and daddy’s love. It don’t take more’n that.” “I do love her!” “Mebbe that so. But I ain’t sure she knows it, not down in her bones where it count.

“Some of the best things in life come when you’re not planning on them. It’s important to see them for the gift they are.”