quote · Legacy record
When something terrible happens, a lifetime of small events and unremarkable decisions, of unresolved anger, and unexplored fears begins to play itself out in ways you least expect. You've been going along from one day to the next, not realizing that all those disparate words and gestures were adding up to something, a conclusion, you didn't anticipate. And later, when you begin to retrace your steps you see that you will need to reach back further than you could have imagined, beyond words and thoughts and even dreams, perhaps to make sense of what happened.
When something terrible happens, a lifetime of small events and unremarkable decisions, of unresolved anger, and unexplored fears begins to play itself out in ways you least expect. You've been going along from one day to the next, not realizing that all those disparate words and gestures were adding up to something, a conclusion, you didn't anticipate. And later, when you begin to retrace your steps you see that you will need to reach back further than you could have imagined, beyond words and thoughts and even dreams, perhaps to make sense of what happened.
Approximate author period: c. 1964 AD · modern
Meaning not yet available
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- Author or tradition
- Christina Baker Kline
Attribution: attributed - Country attributed
- Not established
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- Approximate author period: c. 1964 AD · modern
Approximate author-period evidence for Christina Baker Kline: documented birth year 1964; activity date not established. Wikidata Q5110744, inspected 2026-10-08. Not a quotation composition date or independent verification of attribution. Source: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5110744 (accessed 2026-10-08).
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Supplied reference C; CSV row 370058; supplied attribution, independently unverified
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