Bernice Runs Away Quotes

“She shook her head and felt embarrassed for describing the demise of the card catalog like it was a predictor of the sinking morals of today's society.”
― Talya Tate Boerner, Bernice Runs Away

“It was funny the memories a person held onto, fuzzy flashes of life that stood out because the people inside them made them meaningful.”
― Talya Tate Boerner, Bernice Runs Away

“My purse is a dark hole. Is yours like this? The thing I want always settles to the bottom. Someone should invent a purse that lights up inside.”
― Talya Tate Boerner, Bernice Runs Away

“At that precise moment, a large flock of geese flying south over the lake caught her eye. How she admired their brilliant instincts. Such a freeing thing it must be, not having to wonder and think and plan when to fly south for winter, but to simply know when the time was right.”
― Talya Tate Boerner, Bernice Runs Away

“If there was one thing familiar to her, it was the way loneliness tended to creep in, kick off its shoes, and make itself right at home.”
― Talya Tate Boerner, Bernice Runs Away

“She stuffed her white load into the machine first and opened the package of laundry pods she'd purchased at Walmart.... She removed a pod and inspected the interesting, squishy thing. Last year, some crazy teens had dominated the news after eating pods on a dare. In no way did it look edible. Good old common sense disappeared a bit more with each generation.”
― Talya Tate Boerner, Bernice Runs Away

“Thank goodness the machines were basic rather than those intimidating front loader types with space-age digital displays. A few years ago, when Bernice had to replace her old washing machine, she'd had a heck of a time finding something with regular, uncomplicated knobs. In her opinion, the more bells and whistles, the sooner it would break.”
― Talya Tate Boerner, Bernice Runs Away

“While Bernice didn't much trust a baby-faced physician, she appreciated young men called to serve as preachers and farmers, the highest of callings in her opinion, cultivators of souls and the land.”
― Talya Tate Boerner, Bernice Runs Away

“Time seemed to stall for Bernice; for a moment, the memory held her captive. How could certain experiences live inside a person like dormant seeds for so long, and then suddenly be resuscitated by something as simple as an unexpected dream or the sparkle of creek water?”
― Talya Tate Boerner, Bernice Runs Away

“Life had been bursting at the seams back then, as shiny as a copper penny found on the sidewalk. Now she felt as though she had dropped her coin purse between the bars of a sidewalk grate and was straining her fingers to retrieve it.”
― Talya Tate Boerner, Bernice Runs Away

“Was this excessive, carrying books to her next life, most she had read multiple times and would likely never read again, her eyes weary after only a page or two? She ran her fingertips along the familiar spines, some slick and smooth, others as rough as burlap, each tied to a vivid memory. Only a few lines from any of the chosen books possessed the power to transport her to a time when life was as ripe as a low-hanging apple. Pieces of herself lived inside those pages; the words and ideas had helped craft Bernice into the person she became.
No, she couldn't imagine leaving them behind.”
― Talya Tate Boerner, Bernice Runs Away

“As bills shuffled like playing cards, Bernice thought of how she'd earned each dollar, all the weeks and months and years spent as librarian of the Savage Crossing Public Library; all the library checkout cards stamped with due dates, the books shelved and reshelved, the late fees waived. Pride swelled beneath her breastbone, not because she'd soon be walking around with money in her purse, but because during her career she had introduced reluctant readers to perfect books at least a few times. Such a simple act could sometimes be life-changing.”
― Talya Tate Boerner, Bernice Runs Away

“She took a bite-sized Snickers from the bowl of candy on the dining room table and opened it. With Halloween still three days away (and the bowl half empty!) she had obviously bought candy much too early this year. She popped the candy in her mouth and made a mental note to buy more at Walmart. The melting chocolate roused her brain and soothed her nerves. Yes, it made her happy. Joyful even. According to Marie Kondo, identifying joyful objects was only part of the magical tidying-up equation. Thanking each item for doing its job was also key. "Thank you, inventor of the Snickers bar, whoever you are." As far as she was concerned, chocolate should be a major food group.”
― Talya Tate Boerner, Bernice Runs Away

“Each year, the church hosted a Family Fun Night in the fellowship hall as a trick-or-treating alternative for kids. Superheroes and fairy princesses were encouraged; goblins and zombies were not allowed through the doors. Bernice didn't know when it had happened, but evidently, many of the church folk in Savage Crossing believed Halloween was the gateway to Hell.... Bernice looked forward to giving candy to the cute neighborhood kids dressed as green-faced witches and vampires wearing plastic fangs. Kids (and church people) would be better off if they understood superheroes weren't real, and monsters often lurked in unexpected places.”
― Talya Tate Boerner, Bernice Runs Away

“Men didn't live as long as women. She didn't know why, but figured it had something to do with how they poked at the world, never reading directions or asking for help, testing everything around them.”
― Talya Tate Boerner, Bernice Runs Away

“she’d come to an important realization—grief is not finite. No matter how much time passes, grief doesn’t deplete itself. It isn’t a body of water that will slowly evaporate; it isn’t consumed during the normal process of living no matter how many tears are shed.”
― Talya Tate Boerner, Bernice Runs Away