Andrea Jarrell > Quotes

“During those witching hours growing up in 1970s Los Angeles, I banded together with other untethered children. We dared each other to jump from my second-story bedroom window into thick ivy below. We roamed the neighborhood on our bikes, stole candy from the supermarket, and tried out the confessional box at St. Bernard’s even though we weren’t Catholic.”
― Andrea Jarrell, I'm the One Who Got Away

“It had taken Nick most of his life and mine, but he’d finally quit drinking. After he got sober he began to send me birthday cards—signed with many Xs and Os, pink and flowery with effusive definitions of wonderful daughters. He’d send me these cards even though I had never been a wonderful daughter to him. Did he know from my mother that I could be when I wanted to? Or was it just the kind of magical thinking he and I had always been so good at—conjuring up a story and believing it in an attempt to make it true?”
― Andrea Jarrell, I'm the One Who Got Away

“Searching the cherry wood breakfront, I find the tall crystal vase she likes. As I arrange the lilac blooms, a silent question leaves me breathless, as if a heavy boot stood on my chest: When she’s gone, what will I do with all her treasures? Who will remember what she went through to get here? Who will remember her triumph?”
― Andrea Jarrell, I'm the One Who Got Away