Quote Wall

Grandma Dorothy had a saying for every situation. Most of them were wise. Some of them were hilarious. All of them were hers. I've been writing them down since I was a teenager.

Dorothy played that organ for 60 years and not one Sunday did she play without joy. She was the soul of this congregation.

Abuela, eras la persona más generosa que he conocido. Nunca te escuché decir "no" cuando alguien necesitaba algo. Espero heredar aunque sea un poco de eso.

Mamá, tu cocina todavía huele igual cuando entro a la casa. No sé si es mi imaginación o si tú sigues ahí de alguna manera. Te extraño cada domingo.

She brought her students to the city library every spring and let them wander for an hour choosing any book they wanted. Then she'd spend the summer reading whatever they picked. That's a teacher.

Liz was my favorite cousin and my oldest friend. She leaves a hole so big I don't know how to walk around it. But she'd tell me to keep moving. So I am.

She finished the marathon in three hours forty-two minutes, then met us at the restaurant and ate a full meal while still in her race bib. That's the energy she brought to everything.

Elizabeth was one of the finest students I taught in thirty years and later one of the finest teachers I ever encountered.

She assigned us to write a letter to ourselves to be opened in ten years. I opened mine last month. She said we would be surprised by how much we'd grown. She was right.

She was my sister-in-law and my friend. She made my brother the happiest man I've ever seen. I am so grateful he found her.

She traveled to Morocco the year she got sick and came home with carpets, spices, photographs, and seventeen pages of notes. That was Liz. Always collecting the world.

Liz ran the Boston Marathon three times. She trained alone at 5am, every day, in any weather. She brought that same discipline and joy to everything she did.

I failed English twice before I had Mrs. Whitfield. She didn't let me believe I was a bad student. She was right — I wasn't. I was just waiting for someone to see me.

Mom said: read everything, go everywhere, say yes more than no. She lived that and she made sure we did too. I am going to keep saying yes, Mom. For you.

Grandpa, I still have the birdhouse you built me when I was seven. It's still in the yard. The birds still come. I think of you every morning.

Jim built the cabinets in my kitchen 25 years ago. They still look perfect. That's the kind of craftsman he was — he built things to outlast himself.

Dad taught me to fish, to work hard, and to never complain. He said the world didn't owe you anything and kindness was the only real currency. I'm still spending what he gave me.

Bob shoveled my driveway every winter for twelve years without ever being asked. When I thanked him, he always said the same thing: That's what neighbors are for.