Olivier

“He never wanted to be away from her. She had the spark of life. ”
― Alice Munro, Away from Her

“This is what happens. You put it away for a little while, and now and again you look in the closet for something else and you remember, and you think, soon. Then it becomes something that is just there, in the closet, and other things get crowded in front of it and on top of it and finally you don't think about it at all.

The thing that was your bright treasure. You don't think about it. A loss you could not contemplate at one time, and now it becomes something you can barely remember.

This is what happens.

...

Few people, very few, have a treasure, and if you do you must hang onto it. You must not let yourself be waylaid, and have it taken from you.”
― Alice Munro, Runaway: Stories

“My head was a magpie's nest lined with such bright scraps of information.”
― Alice Munro, Too Much Happiness: Stories

“You cannot let your parents anywhere near your real humiliations.”
― Alice Munro, Open Secrets