{"author":"Sarah Ockler","author_id":"Sarah+Ockler","total_quotes":53,"quotes":[{"text":"Anna, you miss him.” “All the time. I still can’t believe he’s gone.” The words come out in a whoosh, tasting funny in my mouth. No matter how many times I say them, they still feel like a garbled, impossible language. My chest hurts, and I have to hold my breath to keep from inhaling a deep sob. “He was more than your best friend.” I nod absently, forgetting myself for a moment, forgetting that I’m talking to Jayne and not my journal. “I – I mean, he was like a brother to me. You know, like Frankie. Well, she’s the sister. I mean–” Jayne reaches for my hands across the table, shaking her head softly. “Sweetheart, when you say Matt’s name, you have the same look in your eyes that he’d get whenever he’d say yours.","author":"Sarah Ockler","tags":["anna","best-friend","brother","jayne-perino","know","love","matt-perino","miss","more"],"id":4993,"author_id":"Sarah+Ockler"},{"text":"Frankie Perino and I were lucky that day. Lucky to be alive-that's what everyone said.","author":"Sarah Ockler","tags":["chick-lit","emotional","romance","sad","sarah-ockler","young-adult","young-adult-fiction"],"id":12896,"author_id":"Sarah+Ockler"},{"text":"The late-night backyard encounter and kiss induced insomnia.","author":"Sarah Ockler","tags":["kiss","love"],"id":13103,"author_id":"Sarah+Ockler"},{"text":"It seemed everything that had ever lived and died in this world had passed through here, had left its indelible imprint.","author":"Sarah Ockler","tags":["canyon","contemporary","earth","inspirational","life"],"id":19893,"author_id":"Sarah+Ockler"},{"text":"I'm still dropping dishes thinking in slow motion about the GPS woman in Mom's car. I imagine her beckoning me from outside the kitchen window illuminated like some robot-angel calling me forth to the Lexus where she will ferry me off to that planet of monotonous peace that special otherworldly place where all the residents are relaxed and confident and completely numb. Your life will. Get better in. Six. Point four. Million. Miles.","author":"Sarah Ockler","tags":["ya","young-adult"],"id":28810,"author_id":"Sarah+Ockler"},{"text":"Anna,' he said, dragging his frosted fingers through my hair.'Don't you know what it means when a boy pulls your hair at your birthday party?' 'No.' Just, then, I didn't know what anything meant.","author":"Sarah Ockler","tags":["love","romance"],"id":50528,"author_id":"Sarah+Ockler"},{"text":"I follow the path we’ve taken so many times this summer – across the front, down the street, cut back through a neighbor’s yard, down the stairs to the beach, past the pier, through the campfire labyrinth, up to the deck of the Shack, and straight into Sam’s arms. Without speaking, he kisses me hard on the mouth and I kiss him back, sobbing and crumpling into his chest like a broken puppet.","author":"Sarah Ockler","tags":["anna-reiley","arms","break-down","cry","hold","hug","kiss","sam-macintosh","sob"],"id":63311,"author_id":"Sarah+Ockler"},{"text":"Through pictures, we cut reality in pieces. We selected only the choicest moments, discarding the rest as if they'd never happened.","author":"Sarah Ockler","tags":["jude","memories","the-book-of-broken-hearts"],"id":68775,"author_id":"Sarah+Ockler"},{"text":"Everyone says that the internet is so awesome because you can connect with people from all over the world, but I think it’s the opposite. The internet doesn’t make it easier to connect with anyone—it just makes it so you don’t really have to.","author":"Sarah Ockler","tags":["internet"],"id":81599,"author_id":"Sarah+Ockler"},{"text":"Oh my God, look!” I stand and hold out my hand for Sam to inspect. “Wow,” he says, taking the glass and holding it up to the sun. “Red is, like, the rarest color there is. You’re totally lucky you even saw it.” I take the deep red, half-dollar-sized piece from him and smile, looking out across the ocean. I told Matt in my letter before we left that I’d find a piece just for him, but now that it’s actually here, sparkling in my hand, I know he’d want me to do something else with it. I raise it above my head and throw it as hard and as far as I can into the sea. Let someone else have a lucky day, Anna. Sam laughs. “Hey, crazy, what’d you do that for? You’ll probably never see something like that again in your entire life.” “Right. But I did see it. And now someone else can, too.","author":"Sarah Ockler","tags":["anna-reiley","beach","found","generous","lucky-day","matt-perino","ocean","red-glass","sam-macintosh","see","someone-else"],"id":81964,"author_id":"Sarah+Ockler"}],"pagination":{"page":1,"page_size":10,"total":53,"pages":6,"next":"?page=2\u0026page_size=10"}}