When someone you love dies, and you're not expecting it, you don't lose her all at once; you lose her in pieces over a long time - the way the mail stops coming, and her scent fades from the pillows and even from the clothes in her closet and drawers. Gradually, you accumulate the parts of her that are gone. Just when the day comes - when there's a particular missing part that overwhelms you with the feeling that she's gone, forever - there comes another day, and another specifically missing part.

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"When someone you love dies, and you're not expecting it, you don't lose her all at once; you lose her in pieces over a long time."

- John Irving

Adversity

"When someone you love dies, and you’re not expecting it, you don’t lose her all at once; you lose her in pieces over a long time."

- John Irving

Adversity

"When someone you love dies, and you’re not expecting it, you don’t lose her all at once; you lose her in pieces over a long time – the way the mail stops coming, and her scent fades from the pillows and even from the clothes in her closet and drawers. Gradually, you accumulate the parts of her that are gone. Just when the day comes – when there’s a particular missing part that overwhelms you with the feeling that she’s gone, forever – there comes another day, and another specifically missing part."

- John Irving

Adversity

"Half my life is an act of revision."

- John Irving

Persistence

"What is hardest to accept about the passage of time is that the people who once mattered the most to us wind up in parentheses."

- John Irving

Gratitude

More Reflection Quotes

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"Don’t let yesterday take up too much of today."

- Will Rogers

Reflection

"Life is like a sewer … what you get out of it depends on what you put into it."

- Tom Lehrer

Reflection

"I’d rather regret the things I’ve done than regret the things I haven’t done."

- Lucille Ball

Reflection

"Nothing ever goes away until it teaches us what we need to know."

- Pema Chodron

Reflection

"Happy Tuesday! It is a good day to reflect on the week so far and spread happiness."

Reflection