Pa never told stories like Grandpa. Or treated the barn like family. Eli knew how Grandpa’s own pa had built the barn by hand, hauling bluestone for the foundation behind a stubborn ox with horns as wide as a tractor. How the smell of the plank walls was like family and how you never washed your chore coat so the animals would smell that you were family, too. Sandra Neil Wallace
About This Quote

When Eli was about two, he went to his grandfather's farm with his dad. The old man sat Eli down on the grass in the cattle pen and explained about the birds who built their nests in the rafters. He explained that when the baby birds were born, they didn't have wings. They had to learn how to fly by falling from the nest.

He explained how they fall all the time, but learn to keep falling until they get it right, and then they can fly. "The same way we learn how to be our best selves," he said. "The same way we learn how to be better parents."

Some Similar Quotes
  1. When someone loves you, the way they talk about you is different. You feel safe and comfortable. - Jess C. Scott
  2. I no longer believed in the idea of soul mates, or love at first sight. But I was beginning to believe that a very few times in your life, if you were lucky, you might meet someone who was exactly right for you. Not because... - Lisa Kleypas
  3. I think you still love me, but we can’t escape the fact that I’m not enough for you. I knew this was going to happen. So I’m not blaming you for falling in love with another woman. I’m not angry, either. I should be, but... - Haruki Murakami
  4. A guy and a girl can be just friends, but at one point or another, they will fall for each other... Maybe temporarily, maybe at the wrong time, maybe too late, or maybe forever - Dave Matthews Band
  5. For the two of us, home isn't a place. It is a person. And we are finally home. - Stephanie Perkins
More Quotes By Sandra Neil Wallace
  1. Pa never told stories like Grandpa. Or treated the barn like family. Eli knew how Grandpa’s own pa had built the barn by hand, hauling bluestone for the foundation behind a stubborn ox with horns as wide as a tractor. How the smell of the...
  2. They got a manure machine in there, ” Keller said. He went up to the barn and peeked through a hole between tow boards. “On wheels. It’s fun to ride sometimes, when you don’t care how you smell.
  3. Little Joe was still behind him. Eli could feel it. He wanted to look back, but he couldn’t. The tears were too close. If he were Fancy, he’d turn around and kick and buck and moo and do just about anything to keep his calf...
  4. Milkers don’t spend half as long with their mothers." Eli spread his chore coat over Little Joe. "Not more than a few weeks. Sometimes one day. Maybe not even ... If you were a peeper, it’d be even worse. They don’t even get to see...
Related Topics