The Star-Crossed Sisters of Tuscany

by Lori Nelson Spielman

“Tell me every good thing about you, Emilia.”

love is more like a lending library. To keep it, we must continually renew it.

“What if, after nearly thirty years of life, you discover you’ve been planted in the wrong place?”

“That which brings us joy should never be besmirched.”

“Hiraeth!” Poppy cries, and claps her hands. “Do you know this Welsh word? It’s a feeling not easily translated into words. A deep longing for home, a nostalgia—a yearning—for the place that calls to your soul.”

When you treat others with love, consistently and fully, you honor your god or goddess.

When it comes time to watch the movie of your life, may tears run down your face, may you scream with laughter and cringe with embarrassment. But for Goddess’s sake, do not let your life story be one that’s so dull you fall asleep during the viewing.”

How agonizing and overwhelming and oddly fortunate it must feel, bidding a final farewell to those you love.

We ignore what our heart tells us when we think it could make someone love us.

Some people see the grandeur in ordinary things.

“Love. Forgive. Love again. Forgive again.

I never knew . . . I never let myself realize . . . how deeply I was missing the sound of a heartbeat next to mine.

Sometimes it’s our mind we ignore when we think we could make someone love us.

“One of life’s loveliest moments is witnessing another person’s grace.”