The past is called the past for a reason. If you are constantly looking behind you, your eyes aren't on the road ahead. You don't drive the car that way, so why should you live your life that way?

— Rachel Van Dyken

The thing about second chances," Mom interrupted, laying a hand on my arm "is we always walk into them assuming we'll feel better, when nine times out of ten things get worse before the ever get better.

— Rachel Van Dyken

The truth really does set you free — but what they don’t tell you is the process hurts like hell.

— Rachel Van Dyken

The type of love that makes you want to laugh out loud—scream a bit—run in circles—and then repeat? Yeah, that’s how I felt about Was. Totally. Out. Of. Control. Giddiness

— Rachel Van Dyken

Time was the most precious thing in the world to me, and I’d just given her all of it. Because I was falling for her. Because I cared for her. Because I wanted to give her something to remember me by, even if it would eventually fade like its namesake. Time… what an absolute horror-inducing word

— Rachel Van Dyken

Today I gave you an hour. A year ago I would have given you an eternity.

— Rachel Van Dyken

Uh, yeah, I love...worms" Classic. Someone should record the gold that flows from my mouth.

— Rachel Van Dyken

Watching someone you love… die? There are no words for how broken that makes a person. It’s like waking up from a bad dream only to find out that it’s you reality, it’s like watching sunlight fade from the sky, like watching death suck the one you love dry, and being powerless to stop it. You may as well try to stop the waves from rolling in, or the sun from rising. In the end, the waves will roll, the sun will set, and death will come. The only thing you have a choice in? How you deal with it…when it does.

— Rachel Van Dyken

Watching someone you love to go through difficult times is like being trapped in your own body but paralyzed. You want to yell at them, scream, help them, but your body won’t move, and you know that no matter how hard you try, in the end, the path is theirs to choose. You can’t choose for them. What a terrifying concept, especially considering we hardly see every option when we’re stuck in our own self-defeat.

— Rachel Van Dyken

What do you love more?” she teased. “My hair or my heart?” “Why give me only two choices? Don’t leave out your legs, your laugh, the way you bite your lip when you’re thinking, the feel of your breath on my face, the sound of your voice in the morning, the way you taste, the three freckles on your nose, the fan of your eyelashes, the caring spirit, the determined soul — so why stop at your hair and your heart? How do you expect me to choose? When what I love the most about you — is you.

— Rachel Van Dyken