The Long Way Home

by Karen McQuestion

I always feel so helpless when something gets screwed up.”

“It’s so frustrating when you can’t fix things.”

Little children were so energetic and curious. Even the ones who wore her out with their shenanigans had redeeming qualities. And they were a joy to look at, so fresh-faced and perfect with their flawless skin and pearly white teeth.

In her opinion, everybody was beautiful when they were young. Dealing with children was a joy because there was so much potential there. Everything lay before them.

have faith that when the time is right I’ll find what I’m really meant to do with

my life, and it will all come together for me. For now, this is good.”

So long the days, so short the years.

Funny that people used the word aged to describe when a person looked older, but there was no word for the reverse process. No one ever said someone had “youngered.”

Everyone had something—some fear, some shortcoming, some problem. And some people had multiples in each area. The problems were what made people human beings—they fostered compassion and encouraged growth. What would be the point if everyone was perfect?

The truth of it was, Jazzy mused, that if you had at least one person who believed in you, you could tolerate almost anything.

Looking in the mirror was the biggest shockeroo. When she was younger, she’d been forewarned about wrinkles and arthritis, but no one told her that someday she’d have a turkey neck and age spots. Or that her skin would lose all its elasticity. Everywhere. Places she didn’t think could droop, did. Even her elbows looked saggy. Elbows! A part she never gave much thought to, and now the skin over the bend of her elbow looked like a bulldog’s face. She couldn’t remember exactly when all her body parts had dropped. One day she just noticed things had changed.

Life sure went by quick when you weren’t paying attention. It

took forever to go from a child to a grown-up. The middle-aged years went by at a steady clip, and everything else af...

Every day, he tried to do at least one nice thing for someone else, a habit he’d started in college. He felt that if everyone did it, the world would be a better place and that he was obligated to lead by example.

Remember, when the universe aligns it does so for a reason. There are no coincidences.

“No. Not closure.” Rita shook her head. “I can’t tell you how much I hate that word. It’s such a Lifetime movie channel word.

“No closure at all. The pain lessens with time, but the loss is always there.”

When you pared away the stuff of life—the obligations, the irritations, the illnesses, and pain—this connection, this love, was all that really mattered.