1
I had always been a boy in this place, and many of the trees and rocks and streams had been old men when I knew them. Some had died. All had changed. I knew that. I had changed the most.Dan Groat
2
The world bein’ so small ain’t always a good thing for those of us who ain’t searchin’ for new and different stuff.Dan Groat
3
One of the worst things I’ve learned about getting older is that there seems to be more change that you don’t like than there was when you were younger and you can’t do nothin’ about it.Dan Groat
4
Does the plain, simple beauty of life get buried under society’s so-called required daily activities or is that just true of me? No, I know I’m not alone in that feeling. We all get caught up in the making and spending of money. I know it’s not just me.Dan Groat
5
Just make sure the day doesn’t pass without sayin’ what’s in your heart. Sometimes you pass up those chances and they’re gone forever.Dan Groat
6
Our bird of hope was being denied the altitude it sought, just free enough to fly dangerously close to the reality of the treetops.Dan Groat
7
Sometimes when the three of us were together on our own, we would have a good time. I was pretty young, but sometimes we would go off in the woods and build forts and fight Indians and I think things were about as close to fine as they ever got right then during those times. In the woods. No parents. No yelling.Dan Groat
8
As an adult I had mastered the art of looking without seeing and listening without hearing and eating without tasting and maybe even existing without living.Dan Groat
9
It’s a funny thing, one day you’re living and the next day you’re not sometimes, whether you have plans or not. Wishes and wants get trumped by the reaper every time. I don’t even know if I would want a warning if it was my time. I think I’d rather be surprised.Dan Groat
10
Sometimes, you need to spit stuff out in words to get it better arranged in your head. I figure if you never talk about it, it just picks its own spot and lays there and festers.Dan Groat
11
The bones of the oak tree that had stood by the spring branch during my youth were scattered about the ground, pieces of the skeleton of a majestic life that had passed while I was off growing up and old.Dan Groat
12
What a wonderful sadness to miss the one you have loved forever, it seems, and know that she is waiting at home.Dan Groat
13
Memories with laughter are the best ones to keep.Dan Groat
14
It’s as close to true freedom as I have come. Not freedom of, but freedom from; freedom from the debris of life that piles up and forces us to dig and dig for our original self, who we were once upon a time, innocent and wonderfully naïve, as authentically pure as a human can be.Dan Groat
15
I assumed that looking back reminded older guys of what they had shot at and missed, the what-ifs, the good memories, the bad, the people left behind, the people who moved on.Dan Groat
16
I don’t know how a reporter would ever understand a politician. Your job is supposed to be about finding the truth and enlightening people. Right? A politician’s job is about hiding the truth and fooling people. Right? You want us to be better informed so we get smarter. They think we’re dumb and it’s to their advantage to keep us that way.Dan Groat
17
How do we keep convincing young people to die in fights they didn’t start for reasons we’re too devious to tell the truth about? It’s way too easy for governments to spend other people’s blood. Maybe only the sons and daughters of those who declare the wars should be allowed to fight and die.Dan Groat
18
Back home. What wonderful words. What a wonderful place.Dan Groat
19
My world was very limited in size and experience. Small things took on extra importance, at least to a child.Dan Groat
20
As I have aged, I’ve been lucky never to reach old. Old is always at least five or ten years beyond my current calendar stage.Dan Groat
21
My name Quan. Quan Nguyen. This Kim-Ly, wife. We next door. Do nails. We with Mr. Blaylock. He fight, we fight. We come here from Viet Nam. This good country, but sometimes, good people in good country have to fight.Dan Groat
22
Now, it’s time for me to lock up and go. Listen to me. Lock up an empty building that’s gonna be torn down. Makes no sense. Like an old man tellin’ a lie to his son from his death bed. What’s the point? Who besides yourself are you fooling?Dan Groat
23
I wonder how long it takes for these people we elect to forget who they work for?Dan Groat
24
What kind of country has this become? Decent people can’t do anything without being watched.Dan Groat