Porch Lights Quotes
"Nothing and no one in this entire world matters more to a sane woman than her children."
"I was pretty certain that wherever Jimmy was couldn’t be too far away because I could feel him, watching over me."
"Jimmy McMullen was a righteous man who loved his church and never missed Sunday Mass."
"It was completely understandable that a child of his age would be traumatized by the loss of a parent."
"I sighed then, realizing we were little more than two hurt birds flying back to the mother nest to heal."
"I knew I drove my daughter out of her mind some of the time. To be honest, she drove me a little batty too."
"I could watch the birds in the morning while I scrambled eggs or flipped pancakes, and that always made my heart a little bit lighter."
"My poor boy was just as distraught as I was, and we were both exhausted from grief and lack of sleep."
"The lighthouse wasn’t round because a triangle is a stronger shape."
"In the morning’s rising sunshine, high-energy dogs and joggers were at play."
"But the end of the day was the time I liked best, when the sand cooled, the light changed to a softer rose hue, and a kind of peace settled all over the island."
"Maybe the future would present itself like a limousine."
"It was so hard to accept that even such a simple daily act like watching the news and making supper together could never happen again."
"Jimmy had loved the island too. I missed him something awful."
"And that, I reminded myself again, was why I had come home—to not worry so, if only for a while."
"One door has to close for another one to open."
"The sight of Steve with a dish towel in his hands made me so uncomfortable—the happy trio washing up the supper dishes?"
"The jury did not indulge in a long deliberation and found that truth is wildly overrated."
"I have to teach him well and then trust him a little."
"If you ask me, I think she's going to make the turn and head up to Cape Hatteras."
"Discretion is the better part of valor, Charlie."
"I can't believe I sat here and ate all this food and didn't even see that you have transformed yourself into a beauty queen!"
"I'd give every last tooth I have left in my head to have my momma back for just ten minutes."
"Every house should have one," referring to a hand-crank radio.
"I hate it when you talk in we because then I know the answer is going to be a big fat no."
"You're still my little girl, Jackie, and you're the apple of my eye."
"When storms turned out to sea, the Lowcountry looked washed clean, as though the good Lord was giving all us sinners another chance for redemption."
"I could feel my heart slamming against my ribs, and I was out of breath."
"There lay Vernon's body, dressed in black, with a black tie neatly knotted under his collar."
"I was determined to see her through. We could calculate the balance of my taking versus my giving at a later date."
"I cannot fathom how unbearable it must be to go through a burial alone."
"I don’t think there’s anything to teach. You just have to tune in and listen."
"There’s a big difference between living in memories and living."
"Life is a struggle, I would tell him. Some days are better than others, and every person’s life is bittersweet, filled with joy and pain."
"In the Lowcountry, the hand of God is alive and well."
"Well, there were too many coincidences to be coincidences, okay?"
"Gosh, no. Help yourself to whatever you want."
"You’re smelling brown sugar. Sit, I’ll get you a bowl."
"It wasn’t a grunt of disapproval; it was one that sounded like Well, how do you like that? I can help myself!"
"He smiled at me, and I thought he was still handsome, in an appealing rugged weather-beaten kind of way."
"I had no intention of telling Buster the news."
"G’morning, Mrs. Britt, how did you sleep?"
"He was a study in boyhood, and if I’d been an artist I would’ve set up my easel right there."
"Don’t worry, sweetie, if it’s boring, I’ll bait the hooks!"
"Absolutely not! Nasty! That’s a boy job. I cook them. That’s my job."
"I’ll just cover this with plastic wrap and put it in the fridge for now."
"I had touched the handrails of a bridge and a fishing rod, and I felt so sticky."
"Passion keeps you alive, Charlie, and it also lets you know that you’re alive!"
"I’ll be right here if you need me, okay?"