Slightly South of Simple (Peachtree Bluff, #1)

by Kristy Woodson Harvey

The tide always lent me serenity. It was constant, changeless. Every day it had its highs and its lows, but, like clockwork, it continued on. That was how I needed to be too. Always steady.

I consider myself to be a nice person. But even I have my limits.

Once you go “y’all,” you never go back.

“Caroline is a force of nature,” I said. “She has the strongest personality. She is stubborn and headstrong and a hair obnoxious.” I paused. “But she loves like crazy. Once you’re in with her, you have everything. But when you’re out, you’re out.”

Surrender, I thought. It was a tricky thing. Letting go. Trusting another person more than you trusted yourself. Knowing he would be there for you. Believing that the universe would send you the right thing.

There was nothing like being on the sand, feeling your hands and feet in it, getting it in your hair. We were beach girls. We had been raised like this.

thought i was the only one who lays my head down in sand ike that

while the world seemed to be spinning too fast around me and I had lost my grip in so many ways, some things, the best things, stayed the same.

“When God smiles, don’t ask questions,”

we don’t get to choose whom we love.

favorite

I turned to look back over the water. The beauty of it was a surprise every time. The marsh grass growing on the islands, the ancient cedar trees that formed paths and trails that we spent hours traveling on when we were young.

beaufort

collecting shells, admiring the wild horses from the widow’s walk, playing tag in the front yard, having water-balloon wars. And my childhood summers here, when the world was so pure, nothing was scary, and I was so full of innocence, were the closest, I think, that one could ever get to heaven on earth. Those were the good times, the times that would always fill my heart with the most gladness.

nailed it

The moments that sneak up on you, the little surprises that keep you guessing, make life so worth exploring, even when the unthinkable happens.