Jennifer Handford > Quotes

“Maybe heartache was more normal than the absence of it.”
― Jennifer Handford, Daughters for a Time

“How do you measure what’s real, what’s true? How do you stack up all that’s pure against all that’s evil?”
― Jennifer Handford, Acts of Contrition

“In so many ways,” I tried to explain. “I feel repaired. The old wounds feel repaired, anyway. As if what was taken has been returned. I don’t get to be my mother’s daughter ever again. But I get to be a mother”
― Jennifer Handford, Daughters for a Time

“We were not born whole; we were born new, and each life experience coated us with another layer. These layers protected us like armor, but they also covered us to the point where we no longer could feel. That was the balance: to open up to the experiences, to strategically place the layers, but to leave the heart open. The heart had to be sent into the front lines every day, naked, unarmed, willing to take fire. That was the only way to live. With risk. On the cusp of dying.”
― Jennifer Handford, The Light of Hidden Flowers

“Bull markets are born on pessimism, grow on skepticism, mature on optimism, and die on euphoria.” I always got out before the euphoria.”
― Jennifer Handford, The Light of Hidden Flowers

“Yes, Landon. I remember.” “Do you remember what I said?”
― Jennifer Handford, Acts of Contrition

“You cannot discover new oceans unless you have the courage to lose sight of the shore.”
― Jennifer Handford, The Light of Hidden Flowers

“as”
― Jennifer Handford, The Light of Hidden Flowers

“Some might say each of us was born whole and perfect. They might contend that life chipped away at us day by day: the first time we were scolded for spilling milk, that deflating moment when we were called out at first base, the lingering betrayal when our best friend aligned with someone else. Chip, chip.”
― Jennifer Handford, The Light of Hidden Flowers

“Neruda poem that talked about ‘the light of hidden flowers.’ It’s easy to believe in people when they have it all together on the outside. It’s way cooler to believe in them when what they have is still a little buried.”
― Jennifer Handford, The Light of Hidden Flowers

“Your mother was a saint, if there ever was one. She’s smiling on you today, you know that, right?” “I know.” “Boy did she love you.” “I wish I felt like I knew her,” I said, like I always said. “Know yourself, and you’ll know her,” Dad said, another one of his famous sayings. “You’re a lot like her.”
― Jennifer Handford, The Light of Hidden Flowers

“You’ve gotta believe that the split second that changed your life—the brief moment that took your leg and bruised your melon—can’t be the defining moment of your life. It was just an instant, a flash. Just one second out of millions of seconds. It doesn’t get to own you.”
― Jennifer Handford, The Light of Hidden Flowers

“The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.”
― Jennifer Handford, The Light of Hidden Flowers

“Always put the kneeler down immediately! Any Catholic parent of small children knows”
― Jennifer Handford, Acts of Contrition

“My father was a romantic who believed in kismet, who trusted there were no accidents, that every person we encountered was sent to us for a reason.”
― Jennifer Handford, The Light of Hidden Flowers

“swallowing a spoonful of butternut squash soup, feeling it coat my throat and slide down to my belly.”
― Jennifer Handford, Daughters for a Time

“Until you lose sight of the shore, you’ll never discover new oceans!”
― Jennifer Handford, The Light of Hidden Flowers

“So long as I was pursuing my passion, I would always find courage. I would be restored. My history of silence didn’t have to be my future.”
― Jennifer Handford, The Light of Hidden Flowers

“I was once a daughter. We all were—Sam, Claire, me. We just didn’t know that it wasn’t forever, that we were only daughters for a time.”
― Jennifer Handford, Daughters for a Time