21 Quotes by Karen White

I wanted to cry for the little girls we’d been before the world’s glaring spotlight eradicated our childish imaginations.

It wasn’t that I didn’t believe in the tree’s power. But I believed in the power of human imagination more, of projecting our dreams and wishes into a safe space where we could place our disappointments if they didn’t come true.

Don’t think of the realities, Ceecee. Think of possibilities and dreams. Of things you can’t even imagine yet. And write those down.

A strong breeze pushed at the martin houses strung from the old oak tree below. Watching them, Ceecee remembered the story Margaret had told her long ago, about how the small birds relied on others to make their homes for them. It made sense to her now, knowing that so much of life was reliant on things outside of oneself, how the whims of others dictated people’s hearts and lives. How dreams and wishes were just so much dust when held against the will of another human being.

...Being a mother is like being a gardener of souls. You tend your children, make sure the light always touches them; you nourish them. You sow your seeds, and reap what you sow.

...Being a mother is like being a gardener of souls. You tend your children, make sure the light always touches them

I’d sat on a bench there with Mabry and Bennett, eating ice cream and making up dramatic stories about the people we’d seen, their hidden lives and dark secrets.Mabry said I gave her nightmares sometimes, that that was the true mark of a storyteller, to make people believe something made-up was real.

I learned the hard way that you can’t spend your whole life facing the wrong way. You’ll never see what’s ahead of you if all you ever see are ghosts of your past.

They sat in silence, watching the river flow in the same direction it always had, a ribbon connecting the past with the present, and a reminder that time moved on regardless of whether you wanted it too.