“I believe you can prove everyone wrong, too, Victoria. Your behavior is a choice; it isn't who you are.” — Vanessa Diffenbaugh Choice Copy Share Image
“Sitting under a tree, I studied my options. The fall flowers were in full bloom: verbena, goldenrod, chrysanthemum, and a late-blooming rose.… — Vanessa Diffenbaugh Bouquet Copy Share Image
“At the end of each day, Elizabeth read to me. She had shelves and shelves of children's classics, dusty hardcovers with stamped… — Vanessa Diffenbaugh Children Copy Share Image
“I still look up sometimes when I cross the front of the house, expecting to see her.” — Vanessa Diffenbaugh Catherine Copy Share Image
“The first page held a picture of a hazel blossom that Catherine had drawn. It had been pulled from its file, laminated… — Vanessa Diffenbaugh Hazel Copy Share Image
“Common thistle is everywhere,” she said. “Which is perhaps why human beings are so relentlessly unkind to one another.” — Vanessa Diffenbaugh Copy Share Image
“The more I read, the more I felt my understanding of the universe slip away from me. Columbine symbolized both 'desertion' and… — Vanessa Diffenbaugh Different Copy Share Image
“This time, there was no escape, I could not turn away, could not leave without accepting what I had done. There was… — Vanessa Diffenbaugh Acceptance-of-oneself Copy Share Image
“Still a daughter. But soon, in hours apparently, I'll be nobody's daughter. Surface lovliness was the outward visible sign of an inward… — Vanessa Diffenbaugh Children Copy Share Image
“I would learn to love her like a mother loves a daughter, imperfectly and with out roots.” — Vanessa Diffenbaugh Children Copy Share Image
“The only problem,” he added, “is that it takes over an hour to cook.” “Over an hour!” The thought of waiting made… — Vanessa Diffenbaugh Copy Share Image
“I could have hired someone else. Someone less flawed, perhaps, or at least better at hiding it. But none of them would… — Vanessa Diffenbaugh Dressing room Copy Share Image
“For eight years I dreamed of fire. Trees ignited as I passed them; oceans burned.” — Vanessa Diffenbaugh Dreams Copy Share Image
“We replanted. The loss was substantial, but it was overshadowed completely by losing you.” — Vanessa Diffenbaugh Chapter-6 Copy Share Image
“Bowing my head, I dipped my nose into the bouquet I'd assembled. There was flax, and forget-me-not, and hazel. There were white… — Vanessa Diffenbaugh Bouquet-of-flowers Copy Share Image
“Meredith Combs, the social worker responsible for selecting the stream of adoptive families that gave me back, wanted to talk to me… — Vanessa Diffenbaugh Chapter-1 Copy Share Image
“It was there, under the fear, under the avoidance: a love lit with awe, so bright it hurt to look.” — Vanessa Diffenbaugh Fear Copy Share Image
“Her eyes were open, taking in my tired face... Her face twitched into what looked like a squinty smile, and in her… — Vanessa Diffenbaugh Childbirth Copy Share Image
“The rapid growth of Message- combined with an outpouring of florists offering consultations in the language of flowers to the streams of… — Vanessa Diffenbaugh Bay area Copy Share Image
“It wasn't as if the flowers themselves held within them the ability to bring an abstract definition into physical reality. Instead, it… — Vanessa Diffenbaugh Change Copy Share Image
“There was only one way to the other side, and that was through the pain.” — Vanessa Diffenbaugh Pain Copy Share Image
“For eight years I dreamed of fire. Trees ignited as I passed them; oceans burned. The sugary smoke settled in my hair… — Vanessa Diffenbaugh Books Copy Share Image
“As she looked me up and down, I felt like a daughter returning from summer camp to a mother who had worried… — Vanessa Diffenbaugh Chapter-6 Copy Share Image
