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like many of us, he does not know himself as well as he assumes to, and he would never believe he had anything worthy in his life to document. But he does; we all do.
They only knew that the world was not what it had once been.
We like to think that our lives are within our control, but they may not be completely so. We are necessarily influenced by those who have come before us.
“So many things these days seem hard for me to do. I don’t know why, I just feel a little scrambled in my head or something.
When Bob thought about the state of the country these days, he sometimes had the image of a huge tractor trailer rumbling down the highway and the wheels, one by one, falling off.
People did not care, except for maybe one minute. It was not their fault, most just could not really care past their own experiences.
Margaret had devoted her life to the service of others because she desired—deeply, almost without knowing until right now—to connect with another person.
Where were all these people coming from? Where was all the money coming from? No one seemed to know. But people agreed: It was going to change the town forever.
Charlene was embarrassed at how much she had talked to her, she felt that her loneliness had been leaking all over her,
may be that not enough is said about this sort of thing, older people and how much they might appreciate the touch of another human being. Mrs. Hasselbeck, for example: How did she live without any human touch to her skin? Charlene Bibber? Somehow they existed without it, many people do. Yet one has to wonder about the toll it takes, the lack of being touched or held. So many people are not.
Also, the sun does not set until seven-thirty, and this gives people a kind of deep breath without their even quite knowing it. Curtains
he had just seen. (He would tell Lucy about it.) He often had waves of soft sadness move through him; he knew this about himself and accepted it.
“Remember how I told you I’m always terrified?” “Oh yes,” Lucy said. “It’s a terrible way to live.”
But honestly? The way the world is going…I wonder if that’s just because I’m old, or if we really are in a mess.” “Oh, we’re in a mess.”
And I was always inside my head, and I remember thinking: I’m glad this is my head.”
“My point is that every person on this earth is so complicated. Bob, we’re all so complicated, and we match up for a moment—or maybe a lifetime—with somebody because we feel that we are connected to them. And we are. But
“I’m so good at being lonely, though. I’m just so good at it.”
And who—who who who in this whole entire world—does not want to be heard?
And yet, as is often the case, those of us who need love so badly at a particular moment can be off-putting to those who want to love us, and to those who do love us. Bob,
wonder how many people out there are able to be strong—or strong enough—because of the person they’re married to.” “Ay-yuh, I’ve been wondering that too.”
That’s not evil, Larry. These are broken people. Big difference between being a broken person and being evil. In case you don’t know. And if you don’t think everyone is broken in some way, you’re wrong. I’m telling you this because you have been so fortunate in your life, you probably don’t even know such broken people exist.”
“It was just interesting to me, I think now, because they had very little, but they had each other, and that sort of seemed enough for them.”
But as we have said earlier, Bob had very little sense of who he was. Which is true for many of us, but this was especially true for Bob.
People suffer. They live, they have hope, they even have love, and they still suffer. Everyone does. Those who think they’ve not suffered are lying to themselves.
Love comes in so many different forms, but it is always love. If it is love, then it is love.”
