Audrey Niffenegger

My reflection in the

My reflection in the mirror shows me pink and puffy. I thought pregnant women were to supposed to glow. I am not glowing. Audrey Niffenegger

That’s the thing about

That’s the thing about living vicariously; it’s so much faster than actual living. In a few minutes we’ll be worrying about names for the children. Audrey Niffenegger

What is more basic

What is more basic than the need to be known? It is the entirety of intimacy, the elixir of love, this knowing. Audrey Niffenegger

…she could express her soul with that voice, whenver I listened to her I felt my life meant more than mere biology…she could really hear, she understood structure and she could analyze exactly what it was about a piece of music that had to be rendered just so…she was a very emotional person, Annette. She … Read more

He looks sad. Or

He looks sad. Or maybe that’s just how he looks when he isn’t doing something else with his face. Audrey Niffenegger

Mom had just gotten

Mom had just gotten back from Sydney, and she had brought me an immense, surpassingly blue butterfly, Papilio ulysses, mounted in a frame filled with cotton. I would hold it close to my face, so close I couldn’t see anything but that blue. It would fill me with a feeling, a feeling I later tried … Read more

…all of our laments

…all of our laments could not add a single second to her life, not one additional beat of the heart, nor a breath. Audrey Niffenegger

I wish for a

I wish for a moment that time would lift me out of this day, and into some more benign one. But then I feel guilty for wanting to avoid the sadness; dead people need us to remember them, even if it eats us, even if all we can do is say “I’m sorry” until it … Read more

Maybe I’m dreaming you.

Maybe I’m dreaming you. Maybe you’re dreaming me; maybe we only exist in each other’s dreams and every morning when we wake up we forget all about each other. Audrey Niffenegger

He would say her

He would say her name over and over until it devolved into meaningless sounds – mah REI kuh, mah REI kuh – it became an entry in a dictionary of loneliness. Audrey Niffenegger