“I know I need to glide onto the track of my old life, but I can’t seem to manage it; neither do I have the courage to form a new one, though, in truth, it’s what I want. It’s what I’ve wanted for a long time.”

This quote introduces the differences between what Joy feels that she “needs” to do versus what she “wants” to do. In this metaphor—in which she has fallen off the track of her old life instead of imagining a new track— she yearns to glide back onto the track she has already left behind. Joy is stuck in the past.

“All I know is that for more than three decades, my sister has been the bedrock of my life, and now I’m standing on sand. I have never felt so lost and alone.”

By comparing Joy’s emotional stability to physically standing on different kinds of earth, the author uses a metaphor to communicate the extent to which the absence of Stacey affects Joy. It also paints a picture of Joy on top of Stacey, using her for stability rather than seeing her as an equal. This quote highlights the theme of Processing Pain Through Love.

“‘But I’m supposed to be in Hope,’ I say to the emptiness around me. Trees commiserate, whisper in understanding. They know how it feels to be uprooted, disappointed. It’s bad enough that my one spontaneous decision in life leads to a plane crash; I could at least crash near my destination.”

Joy should be in a town called Hope in Canada, where she wanted to find a way to change in her life. The trees’ personification emphasizes both the liveliness of the environment there and the reflection Joy sees of her own emotions in the natural world. This quote alludes to The Mysterious Impact of Magic.