“A mother is the person who takes care of you when you re sick. The one who holds you when you re afraid. The one who follows the bus to school on the first day to make sure you made it okay. I have only one mother, Nana; he just happens to be my father, too.”
“I wonder what children whose parents have money think about in their spare time.”
“You ll be alright, I say, Mum likes you.”
“For children, parents are a yardstick for normalcy.”
“The parents have a right to say that no teacher paid by their money shall rob their children of faith in God and send them back to their homes skeptical, or infidels, or agnostics, or atheists.”
“I sit on my bed and think about Nader McMillan and wonder what I’m going to do. Ignore him. Stand up to him. Avoid him. Be “tough.” I think of the stuff Dad has said over the years. How he finally gave up suggesting things. Why are you asking me this? I never figured out what to do about my own bullies. How am I supposed to know what to do with yours?”
“Is that what love is all about? Needing them to come back to you when they re away? To come home and keep you safe?”
“I thought, Dad. Could I go to Vietnam for you? Dad, I could do it. I could do it for you. I could go to the places you fought. I could find the bits and pieces of your heart and soul left behind. If I bring them back, would it heal your pain? Dad, you gave me life. You made possible every good thing in my life. Why do you insist on fighting your nightmares and memories and monsters alone? You don’t have to do it alone, Dad. I could help you fight. Dad, you know what? I’ll be back before you find out so you don’t have to be afraid. I’m going to Vietnam.”
“Do you need anything? she asks. A mom A dad. Someone. Anyone. Can you arrange for that? Nah, I m good.”
“Distinctive facial features of a parent are poor people’s paternity test.”
“The return to the Father from whom all fatherhood takes its name allows me to let my dad be no less than the good, loving, but limited human being he is, and to let my heavenly Father be the God whose unlimited, unconditional love melts away all resentments and anger and makes me free to love beyond the need to please or find approval.”
“There comes a time when we realize that our parents cannot save themselves or save us, that everyone who wades through time eventually gets dragged out to sea by the undertow - that, in short, we are all going.”
“My parents would not permit ugly language in the house, which was okay with me. I didn t want to learn German anyway.”
“RETURN TO TENDER Our aging parents deserve the same loving care they gave us in infancy Kamil Ali”
“Sigara zilizidi kuvutwa, ndani ya nyumba, na magaidi wale wawili, wakati Murphy akisinzia kudanganyia kama kweli nguvu zilishamwisha. Alimfikiria tena mpenzi wake Sophia, safari hii sana. Alimkumbuka Debbie; hakujua alikuwa wapi na hakujua mama yake angefanya nini kama Debbie angekufa, na Murphy ndiye aliyetoka naye. Debbie alimuuma zaidi. Alimkataza kufa kwa ajili ya mchumba wake. Sasa alikufa kwa ajili ya mtu ambaye hakumjua. Murphy alijilaumu kumtongoza na kumchukua kwao na kulala naye na kula chakula chake cha kifalme. Wazazi wake wangejisikiaje kama angekufa, tena katika mazingira ya kutatanisha kama yale. Kufa alijua angekufa; lakini Mungu angemsaidia, awaage watu wake.”
“Many a man has known that startling instant in which Dan Cupid, that busy young rascal, took things in hand, and told him that his baby girl was not a baby girl now, and was about to fly away from him. It is both a happy and a sad thrill that shoots through a man at such an instant. Happy and joyous at his girl’s arrival at maturity; sad, as it brings to mind that awkward fact that his own youth is now but a myth; and that his scalp is showing vacant spots. His baby girl in a bridal gown! His baby girl a Matron! His baby girl proudly placing a grandchild in his lap!! It’s an impossibility!! But this big world is full of this kind of impossibility, and will stay so as long as Man lasts.”
“Our fathers were demons, Catarina said. Our mothers were heroes.”