I have never been the type of girl that has pictured my wedding.

I could never have pictured myself writing a book when I was 25 years old. My mom was an English teacher but I wasn't that way growing up.

"It's not exactly what I wanted. Not how I always pictured this moment. But I know that just like I've given my all for him, he's giving everything he has to give.

Lastly, she pictured to herself how this same little sister of hers would, in the after-time, be herself a grown woman; and how she would keep, through all her riper years, the simple and loving heart of her childhood: and how she would gather about her other little children, and make their eyes bright and eager with many a strange tale, perhaps even with the dream of Wonderland of long ago: and how she would feel with all their simple sorrows, and find a pleasure in all their simple joys, remembering her own child-life, and the happy summer days.

When I pictured myself, it was always like just an outline in a colouring book, with the inside not yet completed.

If I never went home, what exactly would I be missing? I pictured my cold cavernous house, my friendless town full of bad memories, the utterly unremarkable life that had been mapped out for me. It had never once occurred to me, I realized, to refuse it.

I could never have pictured myself writing a book when I was 25 years old. My mom was an English teacher but I wasn't that way growing up.

A lot of the songs start with an image. I was sitting there playing the guitar and I pictured this old dirty green car with the window rolled down in the hot hot hot Texas heat and this beautiful woman I knew when I was a kid sitting behind the wheel looking out at me.