Pack Up the Moon

by Kristan Higgins

There’s something about being near the ocean that puts your life in perspective. It’s reassuring, that’s what it is.

Staying in the moment was better than wringing hands about the future.

Grief was a heavy, dark blanket, weighing him down, making the smallest things difficult.

The sadness shouldn’t cancel out what had been so bright and full and beautiful. Just because the cherry blossoms would fall didn’t mean you should mourn them on the tree.

Once you’d had a love like that, it would be futile to try to replicate it. Everything else would be a hollow imitation.

Life was everywhere except where he most wanted it to be.

you’re a super-genius doesn’t mean you know how to do this. No one does.” The conversation

Peopling was hard.

Peopling was hard. It was worth it about half the time, but it took a lot out of him.

Sometimes, he felt like he was remembering the memory, not the actual moments—remembering

Lauren thought he was utterly delightful because of those things, not despite them.

Sometimes grief brings a family together; sometimes it pushes each person into a corner. Sometimes it does both.