"There will always be the older white woman in Walmart who stared at us with sheer disgust, or the African-American mother who looked at us and just shook her head.”
"While you are not her Savior, and shouldn’t carry that burden around, you are there to protect her. She has one knight in shining armor with skin on in this world. You."
"Did someone open a card under his name? The next day, the day I called that hotel room and heard his voice, his voice 1,000 miles away, and then heard her voice in the background, that was the day I broke."
"I question my own motives in writing this. Is it sordid? Is it to gain sympathy? Is it to avoid criticism or worse, to benefit from the publicity criticism brings? Lord, I hope not."
"Does that seem absurd to you? Are you looking strange? When you, once in a lifetime, cleaned the floor, you expected in the least, a prize of excellence with great glory."
"I got a quick kiss of course, but otherwise there was little time available for conversation. He seemed distracted and intent to leave on time. He didn’t even tell me he loved me."
"Normal to me, at five years old, was a mom who served as both parents. To me, a father was a drifter who came around occasionally and made you laugh. But who also caused your mom to cry behind closed doors when he left again unexpectedly."