“Jo told me once that she was an old woman everywhere but in her studio. “There I’m only myself,” she’d said. Standing… — Laura Anderson Kurk Copy Share Image
“My mom told me once that Wyatt loved her the way a boy will love his mother, but I loved her the… — Laura Anderson Kurk Copy Share Image
“For a second, I stared at the map of her veins just under the surface of her thin skin. It was like… — Laura Anderson Kurk Copy Share Image
“But with her eyes closed, she began to whisper. “If you have someone to love, then love. If you have someone to… — Laura Anderson Kurk Copy Share Image
“Do you know how hard it is to paint kindness?” She leaned her hip against a desk in the corner of the… — Laura Anderson Kurk Copy Share Image
“I worried I would miss it, and I knew, from losing Wyatt, that things happen the moment the soul is released. Wyatt… — Laura Anderson Kurk Copy Share Image
“I’m not sure about all the particulars that led to this moment. Do I believe life is a series of dots to be connected…or that no one can outrun destiny…or that all roads lead to truth and coincidence is a lie to distract us? The reason I was in this place no longer mattered. The harsh reality stared me in… — Laura Anderson Kurk Copy Share
“I’d stumbled upon the inner sanctuary of a woman who loved the world. Loved the faces of people she saw. Loved the… — Laura Anderson Kurk Copy Share Image
“He smiled and squinted at me again, tilting his head up and to the right as he stared. “Maybe what I’m attracted to in you is more than your looks and your brain and your humor.” He leaned closer like he had a secret. “It could be your soul,” he whispered. I pushed his cheek until he was squinting at… — Laura Anderson Kurk Copy Share
“Look at this one.” I picked up a small painting of a man with dark hair and a short, dark beard. He… — Laura Anderson Kurk Copy Share Image
“But I understood, now, that we don’t live only for ourselves. We’re connected by millions of shared experiences and dreams and nightmares, all tied… — Laura Anderson Kurk Copy Share Image
“Let’s go to town,” Jo said. “Take me to eat dinner at the hotel.” I sucked in a breath and stared at her for a minute. Here she sat, her hair still wet although neatly braided, wearing an old Kiss sweatshirt, the one with the red mouth and tongue, red sweatpants, and ridiculous red pumps with black scuffs on the… — Laura Anderson Kurk Copy Share
“I turned my ear toward the door because I heard him breathing. When you’re alone and afraid, the simple sound of the steady in… — Laura Anderson Kurk Copy Share Image
“Every moment of our lives we make choices. Most we don’t even know we’re making, they’re so dull or routine or automatic. Some are… — Laura Anderson Kurk Copy Share Image
“He’d had to fold his long legs into his desk. His boots had seen better days, and his jeans unraveled in a curiously irresistible… — Laura Anderson Kurk Copy Share Image
“I reached down and picked up a baseball bat at my feet and I flung it as hard as it could. It circled and arced high in the air until it slammed against the side of the dining hall with a crack and fell. I sat down in the dirt. Then I lay down in the dirt. Because not only… — Laura Anderson Kurk Copy Share
“I finally understood why so much monkey business happened in the backs of buses. Put us in close proximity, with wheels spinning under us,… — Laura Anderson Kurk Copy Share Image
“Here’s what I learned about life when we were going through that. We’re all human and mortal. We’re all going to suffer and die. But it’s how we are with each other during those times that proves God’s here with us.” He turned his hand over in mine and entwined our fingers. “He comes in through people. People who love… — Laura Anderson Kurk Copy Share
“His room was dark until he switched on his desk lamp. I sat on the floor next to his bed and watched him counting… — Laura Anderson Kurk Copy Share Image
“I could’ve gone on and on but the truth was all that mattered. “My brother died because someone was jealous.” — Laura Anderson Kurk Copy Share Image
“I’d known cruelty in a school—cruelty that would keep these amateurs up all night. But this kind of scene—crowds batting around a person because… — Laura Anderson Kurk Copy Share Image
“Uncommon anxiety came to us in common hours when other people were doing mundane things like taking out the trash or checking their phones.… — Laura Anderson Kurk Copy Share Image