The Garden of Small Beginnings Quotes

“There came a time when the risk to remain tight in the bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom. —ANAÏS NIN”
― Abbi Waxman, The Garden of Small Beginnings

“Annabel was just gazing out the window, presumably pondering the inherent mortality and futility of life. Then I realized she was singing the SpongeBob theme song, so probably not.”
― Abbi Waxman, The Garden of Small Beginnings

“I just want to know what I'm crying about.”
― Abbi Waxman, The Garden of Small Beginnings

“I wish I was one of those people who clean as they go, who are models of organization and clarity, but I'm just not. If I find myself with a piece of paper in my hand, and I'm unsure where to put it, I lay it down on the nearest surface and hope it folds itself into a paper plane and flies wherever it's supposed to go.”
― Abbi Waxman, The Garden of Small Beginnings

“It is unclear to me what happened, but I am often confused by Americans, so let’s pretend everything is fine and go to look at the garden.”
― Abbi Waxman, The Garden of Small Beginnings

“I was lounging in the kitchen, enjoying the small fermata between emptying the dishwasher and reloading it. It's a glamorous life.”
― Abbi Waxman, The Garden of Small Beginnings

“Annabel nodded at her, turning to climb into her own seat, fastening her own harness with the self-assurance of a test pilot on his fiftieth run, rather than someone with no front teeth and a Dora barrette in her hair.”
― Abbi Waxman, The Garden of Small Beginnings

“When I hear about a woman beating her children, I often think the sentence “But those aren’t the Dora ones” must have been the last thing she heard before the red mist took away her sanity.”
― Abbi Waxman, The Garden of Small Beginnings

“This is honestly the best lasagna I've ever had, Lilian. I'm not sure how I ever get Rachel to come out for dinner when she could be eating here all the time."
He smiled at Rachel, but my mother answered him. "It's lucky they inherited my good genes, isn't it, Richard? My girls may not have quite inherited my bone structure, but they both got my metabolism. I can eat like a horse and still stay a size one." She smiled. "I worry a little about Clare, though. She picked up her Dad's slightly chunkier build, didn't you, pudding?"
Rachel caught my eye and looked horrified. I was silent, but it was only because I was building up a proper head of steam. Just as I was about to get to my feet and order her out of my life forever, Clare spoke up.
"It's not about how big or small you are, Grandma, you know." She took another bite of lasagna, and talked around it. "It's about being strong and healthy. You need to eat plenty and run around a lot and drink lots of water and go to sleep early, that's what Mom says.”
― Abbi Waxman, The Garden of Small Beginnings

“The cornstalks act as supports for the climbing beans, the beans fix nitrogen in the soil for the corn and squash, and the squash provides mulch and root protection for the corn and beans. And then, just to make it all perfect, when you eat the corn and beans together, they form a complete protein.”
― Abbi Waxman, The Garden of Small Beginnings

“I filled my mouth with spaghetti and thanked God for the Italians. Spaghetti, pizza, ice cream. If they weren't so busy making love and whizzing around on Vespas, they'd probably rule the world.”
― Abbi Waxman, The Garden of Small Beginnings

“Remember how I said kids pay attention when you don’t know they’re doing it? Here was another classic example. I swear to God, they weren’t even close enough to hear what was going on, but apparently Annabel had gone back over the transcripts.”
― Abbi Waxman, The Garden of Small Beginnings

“After Dan’s death, I would have happily starved myself to death but there were these children in the house . . . they needed feeding, they needed clothing, they couldn’t have cared less that I was grief-stricken. They just peed and pooped and cried and ate and slept as if nothing at all had happened.”
― Abbi Waxman, The Garden of Small Beginnings

“All new activities are excuses for shopping.”
― Abbi Waxman, The Garden of Small Beginnings

“Since when had my little kid turned into the Spanish Inquisition? Nobody expects that.”
― Abbi Waxman, The Garden of Small Beginnings

“Sometimes I worry that I’m self-obsessed, and then I worry that I’m thinking about myself too much.”
― Abbi Waxman, The Garden of Small Beginnings

“it’s like when you’re about to have your first baby—people tell you what it’s like, you’ve seen other people do it. How hard can it be? And then it happens, and the first three months are like Vietnam without the drugs. Grief”
― Abbi Waxman, The Garden of Small Beginnings

“He looked at me thoughtfully, and smiled slowly, his green eyes warm. He smelled of the outdoors, he was so tall and broad shouldered and so ... male ... in this house of women he was shockingly different. All I could think of was how much I wanted to kiss him. I was clearly losing my mind.”
― Abbi Waxman, The Garden of Small Beginnings

“I shrugged, trying to convey a mixture of relaxed invitingness and casual no-pressureness. I’m generally a grumpy, reclusive person on the inside, but sometimes on the outside I surprise myself with my friendliness.”
― Abbi Waxman, The Garden of Small Beginnings

“I suddenly realized that all my senses were getting more of a workout than normal, and maybe that explained why my brain wasn’t buzzing with its usual self-critical commentary.”
― Abbi Waxman, The Garden of Small Beginnings

“Humans have been growing food for themselves since the dawn of time. Indeed, many plants have developed a dependence on us, just as some plants require digestion by birds to activate their seeds. We do our part by planting seeds in healthy soil, watering them, weeding them, and leaving them in peace. They return the favor by growing fruits and seeds and flowers that we like to eat.”
― Abbi Waxman, The Garden of Small Beginnings

“Can I have some Peeps when we get home?” To which I replied that we didn’t have any, on account of it not being Easter, and also on account of Peeps not being an actual food but a by-product of weapons-grade plutonium production. Actually, I just said no, but I thought all the rest of it.”
― Abbi Waxman, The Garden of Small Beginnings

“I did. It’s done.” This was one of Clare’s favorite things to say. “It’s done” covered a lot of things, like drawing on the wall, peeing on the floor, eating candy. It’s done, nothing can be changed, it’s over. She was all about closure, that one.”
― Abbi Waxman, The Garden of Small Beginnings

“when you eat the corn and beans together, they form a complete protein.”
― Abbi Waxman, The Garden of Small Beginnings

“HOW TO GROW A BEET”
― Abbi Waxman, The Garden of Small Beginnings

“If I find myself with a piece of paper in my hand, and I’m unsure where to put it, I lay it down on the nearest surface and hope it folds itself into a paper plane and flies wherever it’s supposed to go. While optimistic, this”
― Abbi Waxman, The Garden of Small Beginnings

“I was getting input from my hands, my eyes, my ears (listening out for killer bees, noticing the birds arguing about something, half listening to the voices of the rest of the class and the piping sounds of Clare teaching Lisa all about cat nipples), and my nose. I wondered why this was so relaxing when it was also so physically active. There was probably some metaphorical lesson to be drawn from it, but I was damned if I was going to hunt for it. For the first time in recent years I was going to stop thinking and just dig in the dirt.”
― Abbi Waxman, The Garden of Small Beginnings

“I hadn't expected vegetables to become such a mayor feature of my life, but that's the thing with plants... they grow to fill the available space.”
― Abbi Waxman, The Garden of Small Beginnings

“I could hear Paul, out in the garden, encouraging Clare to strike a match. I should have been worried, but I wasn't. Sometimes it's better for them to learn how to do dangerous stuff properly, so they don't panic and hurt themselves when they inevitably try it on their own. Besides, he was a rocket scientist.”
― Abbi Waxman, The Garden of Small Beginnings

“There was loads of food set up on a large picnic table just outside the kitchen door. Potato salad with green beans. Sautéed squash with onions and garlic. Tomatoes on their own, or stuffed with cream cheese, or with rice and peppers. Bowls of salad, dressed and undressed. Fresh bread. Berry pie, berry cobbler, berries and cream. Pretty much everything had been grown by the class, and it was enormously satisfying to eat it all.”
― Abbi Waxman, The Garden of Small Beginnings