Kristina McMorris Quotes & Sayings

The line between him and the enemy had simultaneously blurred and solidified. Somehow, while perhaps it shouldn't have, this thought provided a strange sense of peace. — Kristina McMorris

'Letters From Home' is a story inspired by my grandparents' epistolary courtship. — Kristina McMorris

'Letters From Home' is a 90,000-word WWII love story with a twist, aptly summarized as 'The Notebook' meets 'Saving Private Ryan.' — Kristina McMorris

Home. It's such a simple word, one I never knew would come to mean as much to me as it has. It once was my dad's house, then my uncle's farm. Mostly it's meant wherever Charlie and I were together. Now, though, it's you. It's your letters, your words. They're the place I go to with my fears, where I find comfort, where I feel safe. — Kristina McMorris

From 2001-2008, I was the host and a writer for the WB's weekly television program 'Weddings Portland Style.' — Kristina McMorris

When I was a kid, my mom once told me that God was an artist and how on occasion He'd throw a bucketful of paint across the sky for us all to see. I asked her why the paint disappeared by morning, and she told me that if the sky was always like that we might take it for granted. I suppose she was right. Maybe that's what war is all about - so we can appreciate times of peace. — Kristina McMorris

The whole world can become the enemy when you lose what you love. — Kristina McMorris

It's fascinating, really, when you think about it. How a person can slip into a new life as one would a new pair of shoes. At first there's a keen awareness of the fit: a stiffness at the heel, the binding of the width, the curve pressed to the arch. But with time and enough steps, the feel becomes so natural you almost forget you're wearing them at all. — Kristina McMorris

Good had defeated evil, people proclaimed, a justification for atrocities best left forgotten. They would cling to this oversimplified truth while trading pats on the back and placing flowers on graves. — Kristina McMorris

Not every loss was confirmed by an officer at the door. Nor a telegram with the power to sink a fleet. Loss, often the worst kind, also arrived through the deafening quiet of an absence. — Kristina McMorris

Only thanks to blissful ignorance, and the inspiration of my grandparents' story, did I actually believe tackling a novel would be an easy task. I've since learned otherwise. — Kristina McMorris

Maybe heaven entailed more than a soul residing in a single place, but instead having pieces of yourself spread among the hearts and memories of people you've touched. — Kristina McMorris

On occasion, I like to reread my grandfather's letters. While leafing through them, I'm saddened by what is being lost in modern communication. Soul-baring sentimentality isn't typically poured into text messages, tweets and emails. All too often, personal connections are brushed aside for the sake of convenience in a fast-paced world. — Kristina McMorris

My childhood memories of my grandparents are of a wonderful, complementary couple. While my grandfather had a spirited, humorous personality, my grandmother is gentle and poised. — Kristina McMorris

But there was something else. A feeling of understanding, a comfort that defied reason. It was as though kissing her, a near stranger, would have made all the sense in the world. — Kristina McMorris

The most wonderful type of love, she had learned, was the kind built with care and over time, through forgiveness and understanding, compromise and compassion, trust and acceptance. It was hidden in the minutiae of every day life; it was in the traded smiles during a radio show or the peaceful lulls on an evening stroll. — Kristina McMorris

Life is too short not to say how you feel to the people you love. — Kristina McMorris

In seven days God had created the Earth. In a single day mankind had turned it upside down. — Kristina McMorris

War doesn't start with an explosion ... .It bears far more subtlety. A simmer beneath the surface, as if bringing broth to a boil. — Kristina McMorris

Before the day my grandmother shared her treasured letters with me, I honestly wasn't much of a fiction reader, let alone creative writer. — Kristina McMorris

Were prayers of murderers, when fighting on the "right side" of the war, ever heard - let alone answered? — Kristina McMorris

People often refer to bygone days as a simpler time. Perhaps, more accurately, my grandparents' generation focused better on what mattered. Traffic jams and minor quibbles with my husband Daniel pale in comparison with the worries that were faced on the home front and battlefield during the Second World War. — Kristina McMorris

Several years ago, I was creating a Christmas present for the family, a self-published cookbook featuring recipes my grandmother had collected and created over decades. While interviewing her for the biographical section, she began to talk about her courtship with my late grandfather. — Kristina McMorris

It's odd, isn't it? People die every day and the world goes on like nothing happened. But when it's a person you love, you think everyone should stop and take notice. That they ought to cry and light candles and tell you that you're not alone. — Kristina McMorris