"If I had a camera," I said, "I'd take a picture of you every day. That
way I'd remember how you looked every single day of your life." "I look
exactly the same." "No, you don't. You're changing all the time. Every
day a tiny bit. If I could, I'd keep a record of it all." "If you're so
smart, how did I change today?" "You got a fraction of a millimeter
taller, for one thing. Your hair grew a fraction of a millimeter longer.
And your breasts grew a fraction of a-- " "They did not!" "Yes, they
did." "Did NOT:" "Did too." "What else, you big pig?" "You got a little
happier and also a little sadder." "Meaning they cancel each other out,
leaving me exactly the same." "Not at all. The fact that you got a
little happier today doesn't change the fact that you also became a
little sadder. Every day you become a little more of both, which means
that right now, at this exact moment, you're the happiest and the
saddest you've ever been in your whole life." "How do you know?" "Think
about it. Have you ever been happier than right now, lying here in the
grass?" "I guess not. No." "And have you ever been sadder?" "No." "It
isn't like that for everyone, you know. Some people, like your sister,
just get happier and happier every day. And some people, like Beyla
Asch, just get sadder and sadder. And some people, like you, get both."
"What about you? Are you happier and sadder right now than you've ever
been?" "Of course I am." "Why?" "Bacause nothing makes me happier and
nothing makes me sadder than you."
- fra The History of Love, av Nicole Krauss
