When the Cranes Fly South Quotes

“A few quotes to entice you:

"I never used to do this, dwelling on things and getting myself all worked up, but every single part of my life is delicate now. I feel a sudden fondness for the old man in the mirror. It's not bloody easy, being human."

“Young folks today just aren’t right; they race about like they’ve only got a week left to live.”

“Abandon her? Which of us has been abandoned, I want to ask. You’re not the one stuck with a lifetime’s worth of memories in a body that’s slowly withering away.”

“How can it be better for me when it’s not what I want?’ My voice breaks. I’m so damn tired of everyone else deciding what’s best for me.”

“No one has ever told me that it’s normal for a person’s eyes to well up so easily as they age, for the tears to find a foothold in virtually every memory.”
― Lisa Ridzén, When the Cranes Fly South

“Young folks today just aren’t right; they race about like they’ve only got a week left to live.”
― Lisa Ridzén, When the Cranes Fly South

“How lucky we are to have each other”
― Lisa Ridzén, When the Cranes Fly South

“No one has ever told me that it’s normal for a person’s eyes to well up so easily as they age, for the tears to find a foothold in virtually every memory.”
― Lisa Ridzén, When the Cranes Fly South

“Abandon her? Which of us has been abandoned, I want to ask. You’re not the one stuck with a lifetime’s worth of memories in a body that’s slowly withering away.”
― Lisa Ridzén, When the Cranes Fly South

“I had to stop taking my
rheumatism medication when I first started taking the pills for my heart.

‘When it really comes down to it, it’s not a hard choice between your
heart and your joints, is it?’ the locum doctor had asked with a smile.

Dying of a heart attack probably wouldn’t be a bad way to go, I had time
to think, before he interrupted my thoughts.”
― Lisa Ridzén, When the Cranes Fly South

“My mother taught me all the important things in life. About dogs and animals, things I couldn’t have lived without.”
― Lisa Ridzén, When the Cranes Fly South

“There comes a day when life on earth ends for all of us. That’s just how it is,”
― Lisa Ridzén, When the Cranes Fly South

“But the idea that you probably understood more about life than I ever did stays with me.”
― Lisa Ridzén, When the Cranes Fly South

“Strange, isn’t it,’ he says, heading back through to the kitchen. I assume he means it’s strange what you can remember, and I agree. It’s also strange how much has been lost in you. Our entire life together. Still, I like to believe there must be something left. Memories that rise to the surface in your dreams. Images flickering by from time to time, as you’re looking out of the window. Then again, maybe I only feel that way because the alternative is too painful.”
― Lisa Ridzén, When the Cranes Fly South

“My ears strain for the sound of claws on the floor, for a soft yawn. For the sound of your knitting needles, gently clicking together. But all I can hear is the hum of the fridge and the ticking of the clock.”
― Lisa Ridzén, When the Cranes Fly South

“We used to sit here like this together, you and me, getting lost in the flames. We were similar in that regard. Never quite felt at home if there wasn’t a fire. There were days when a whole morning might pass without us noticing. We probably had the radio on, and you were almost certainly busy making something. ‘Time’s strange, isn’t it,’ I say after a while. She meets my eye but doesn’t speak. ‘Sometimes it moves so slowly, and then suddenly…’ I move my hand as fast as I can, demonstrating the way that twenty years of my life just happened.
‘That’s the sort of thing we don’t think about as children,’ says the priest. ‘We just were, you know?”
― Lisa Ridzén, When the Cranes Fly South

“I try to think of something to say, but I can’t find the right words, so I look down at my hands instead. Talking about you is too hard. What is there to say? When the carers first started coming over, a couple of them insisted on asking and talking about you all the time. They said it must be tough on me that you were sick, and I never knew what to say but yes. It always created such an awkward atmosphere, and I just wanted them to go. To be left alone.”
― Lisa Ridzén, When the Cranes Fly South

“It is what it is, you know?’ I say again, though the words stick in my throat. ‘And it’ll happen when it happens.’
‘I guess it will,’ he says, letting out a deep sigh.”
― Lisa Ridzén, When the Cranes Fly South

“In some ways, I’ll live on through Ellinor. One day, she might tell her kids about you, about me. I wonder what she’ll say.”
― Lisa Ridzén, When the Cranes Fly South

“can almost always escape into sleep. It’s the place where everything is still as it should be, where I still have a say.”
― Lisa Ridzén, When the Cranes Fly South

“No one has ever told me that it’s normal for a person’s eyes to well up as they age”
― Lisa Ridzén, When the Cranes Fly South

“I feel a sudden fondness for the old man in the mirror. It’s not bloody easy, being human.”
― Lisa Ridzén, When the Cranes Fly South

“My old man has been quiet for several days now. I'm not the biggest fan of his chatter, but something about his silence makes me uneasy. As though he's trying to punish us, Mother and me.”
― Lisa Ridzén, When the Cranes Fly South

“But you aren't here, and nothing matters anymore.”
― Lisa Ridzén, When the Cranes Fly South

“We're standing so close, but they don't seem bothered by us. I guess we must blend in with the summer night. There is something special about being able to watch wild animals like this. A glimpse into the way life works, somehow.”
― Lisa Ridzén, When the Cranes Fly South

“His fondness for talking back has made me lose my temper so many times, but there is something I envied about it. The confidence he had in everything he said, the fact that he thought he had the right to stand up to me.”
― Lisa Ridzén, When the Cranes Fly South

“Careful, I want to tell him, but I hold my tongue. I wish I could put a hand on his head and ruffle his thinning hair.”
― Lisa Ridzén, When the Cranes Fly South

“I can almost always escape into sleep. It's the place where everything is still as it should be, where I still have a say.”
― Lisa Ridzén, When the Cranes Fly South

“Sixten snores loudly, and I squeeze his ear again. I can still manage a pretty good grip between my thumb and fingers. Ingrid tells me I have a harder nip than most eighty nine year olds, but your hands are tougher, Frederika. The staff at Brunkullagården told me that. I should probably be ashamed, but it makes me happy to hear that you pinch them so hard you're knuckles turn white.”
― Lisa Ridzén, When the Cranes Fly South

“The sound of her doing the dishes is like a lullaby, and I get lost in the fire, barely notice when she says goodbye and closes the door behind her.”
― Lisa Ridzén, When the Cranes Fly South

“His hand is on Sixten, who is lying by his side.”
― Lisa Ridzén, When the Cranes Fly South

“mazariner.”
― Lisa Ridzén, When the Cranes Fly South

“His hand came out of nowhere, and the smack made my vision go dark.”
― Lisa Ridzén, When the Cranes Fly South

“In the end, his heart gave out. That was what the hospital staff told Hans. I wonder whether he was calm or whether he panicked in those final seconds. I imagine him laid out in bed with his clothes on when they found him, and the thought that he might have felt lonely makes my stomach turn. That I wasn’t there. That the only person who really cared about him wasn’t there. The priest stops talking, and the organist starts playing again. My chest feels tight, and I squeeze my eyes shut. I don’t know why, but I don’t want anyone to see my tears. Right then, I feel a weight on my right thigh. Through blurry eyes, I see Hans’s hand on my leg. Resting there the way my hand used to rest on his shoulder after we’d spent a little too long out fishing in clothes that weren’t quite warm enough. I’m struck by how alike they are, our hands. How old his hand looks. I put mine on top of his.”
― Lisa Ridzén, When the Cranes Fly South