The things that had changed seem out of place, and the things that had remained the same made Charlie feel out of place.

It was a time when she did not have the words to name things she saw, and so now, when she tried to recall them, the words could never be right.

She understood him with the knowing and not-knowing that comes of being a child. When you focus on your parent as if they are the center of the earth, that thing on which your survival depends, only later do you realize their flaws, their scars, and their weaknesses.