5 Quotes by Sara Steger

What brings you down this way, Didi?” Nobody had called me “Didi” since I had left Franklin, although it had been Nana’s name for me always. It felt oddly natural to me, as if an acknowledgment that I was remembered somewhere and belonged.

After so many years away, I had been afraid to return and find nothing the same, but I had been wrong. Nana was still here in the boards and bricks. For the first time since burying my children, I was not alone.

She was the kind of practical country woman who accepted fate, leaned on her faith, and got on with the business of living.

There’s a time in life when you are glad for having somebody watching out for you. Nobody cares what happens to you in the city, but here in Franklin folks are interested in everything you do. You can fault people for being nosy, sweetie, but if you fall off your tractor in Franklin, you won’t lay in your field hurting for very long.

Breathing in the salty, swampy air made me sixteen again. If I closed my eyes tightly enough, perhaps Nana would walk up from behind and enfold me in her familiar embrace. I could almost feel the sharp edges of her bony frame and the sweet warmth of her breath on my neck. Nana, who had also lost a child, would know my pain.