2020 Quotes
Joyce, 9
Mike: “Turn the oven off, because the oven is the most expensive thing in the house to run.”
Joyce: “It’s not the most expensive thing in the house, Dad, cuz...(gestures to herself) me!”
-unexpected sass from Joyce.
“Can you pay extra to get smiley ones?”
-Joyce, unsatisfied with the restrictions on passport photos, June 1.
“I had a dream about Settlers and how I’m going to win.”
-Joyce, April 28, showing her competitiveness during a Settlers of Catan streak during our 4-week Covid lockdown.
“We only had to use our discussion question once!”
-Joyce and Sage, emerging triumphantly after a Miller Family Zoom call. They had felt pretty nervous about keeping the conversation going during our breakout rooms.
“Did it used to be 2019?”
-Joyce, during a conversation about 20/20 vision.
“Ohhh, that’s a nice tick.”
- Joyce feels a sense of satisfaction as she checks boxes on her NZ citizenship form.
“I love my capital A”
- Joyce, filling out those same forms. Joyce JoAnn Jones.
“Out of the three things I’m doing right now - jazz, ballet, swimming - I only wear undies for one of them.”
-That’s one way to categorize one’s hobbies.
“If the topic we’re talking about is bad, then I give them bad.”
-Joyce has always loved rating our video calls with the 1-5 stars after we hang up. I didn’t realize until this week that she was rating the calls based on how interested she was in the conversation.
"I’ve got a math problem I just NEED to solve!”
- Joyce, emerging from the bathroom with unexpected zeal. (On the toilet paper pack, it said there were 12 packs with 180 sheets…)
“Finish Harry Potter”
-One of the items on Joyce’s bucket list. After many, many years of having the younger kids in the family complain about listening to Harry Potter in the car (Sage: “It makes me car sick!”) or simply take the wrong messages (5-yo Oak started calling baby Mercy ‘Crabbe’ or ‘Goyle’), or get teased by older brothers for taking more than a week per volume (8 or 9 yo Mercy), 2020 was the year that we all became old enough to enjoy Harry Potter.
“We just turned and looked at each other at the same instant!”
-Joyce and Sage, during our drive home from church, when they described their favorite/most interesting part about the meeting. They were referring to the moment when Elder Odgers talked about the 5 predictors of a happy life, one of which was to be in a relationship with someone who loves you. Sept 27, 2020.
Sage: “What if Santa was British?”
Joy: “Isn’t he?”
Sage, 12
Timon in The Lion King
“I’m so stiff, it hurts just to sit here.”
-Sage looks nice at church but she’s actually in agony. She had a 3-hour dance workshop on the previous day.
“I’m the second shortest girl in my class.”
-Sage, after class picture. Being the tallest kid in class was such a defining part of my life until I was about 16, that I am still shocked at how things have turned out for my girls.
“The more I am in this house, the more I like it. The wooden walls and the creaks remind me of our old house.”
-Sage, after being left alone with Joyce in the new house for the first time. Mike and I had to make one more trip to the Mangorei Rd home to pick up MAVY.
“I have so many things I want to invent, I should start some kind of invention company.”
-Sage, after telling me yet another invention idea, this time for a melted butter dispenser.
“I’m actually quite prideful about my hair.”
-Sage confesses
“Three random people came up to me this week and asked if I got my eyebrows done.”
-Although people notice her long hair, the compliment that Sage gets the very most is about the shape of her eyebrows.
“This is such a good brush that I feel like it’s my friend.”
-Sage
“The stars help me feel the spirit.”
-Sage
“It seems like your life is more problematic than the rest of ours.”
-Danny to Sage, about her ability to self-express
Most likely to invent something. Or to be a brain surgeon.
- Sage, what my class voted for me when I grow up.
“If everyone had that in their head all of the time, the world would be a better place.” -
-Sage about a playlist with Pachelbel’s Canon and Jesu Joy of Man’s Desiring.
“I just love life!”
-Sage, with full expression
“They had all these weird things on the menu. Like, ‘whop-per.’ What’s a whopper? I had no idea.”
-Sage, after going to Burger King for lunch as a Devon reward for 100-mana tickets at school.
“I already have an idea for my PhD in math.”
-Sage wants to invent a new sign for any number divided by 0, which is undefined. Joyce then wondered out loud if only 4 people had ever gotten their PhD’s in math, one for plus, one for minus, one for multiply, and one for divide (one person for each sign).
“You could sell the store to ME, and then YOU could work FOR ME!”
-Sage to Mercy. Mercy had said that she and Bree were going to start a cafe. Sage thought Mercy could hire her (Sage) to work for the cafe. Mercy said she didn’t think Sage would be the “easiest” employee. Sage agreed and came up with a better solution.
“I feel so bad for pink.”
-Sage, feeling compassion for the color which gets abandoned en masse by girls as their favorite color as they get older.
“Do all these things explode?”
-Sage, contemplating the periodic table on a dinner placemat.
“When I was little I wished so bad I could say it, but I never did because the words were too big and confusing and I knew I’d mess them up if I tried.”
-Sage, recalling how impressive it seemed when people could bless the food using the phrase, “nourish and strengthen our bodies.” I remember feeling this way, too. November 2020
Sage: Why does Uncle Dan go fishing at NIGHT? Is that some weird habit he has?
-Uncle Dan makes the Quotes page once again. He’s taken up spearfishing in the ocean. Sage did NOT want to go with him because “I DOUBT you can SCREAM underwater.”
“When she said ‘you can take out the next magnet,’ I knew exactly which one she was talking about.”
-Sage knows why Joyce would let her [Sage] take out the next magnet in the Christmas advent calendar. The magnet shows the David statue from our trip to Florence.
Mercy, 15
Oak- “Mercy had an interesting experience in chemistry today.”
Mercy- “I almost fell asleep! That is the first time that has EVER happened to me!”
-Mercy was sincerely amazed. Going to high school in NZ has helped our kids get good sleep, and I’m thankful.
From Oak to Mercy
“Is there a calf there?”
-Mercy’s physiotherapist, Finn, commenting on Mercy’s thin little calf that emerged from her boot. “Your calf is visibly, visibly thinner”
“My bum has more untapped muscles than I thought.”
- Mercy, after the adventure racing squad’s first weight training session.
“We were vibing!”
- Mercy re NPGHS ball
“Mouthwash misunderstanding!!!”
-Mercy’s exclamation after she realizes she just mouthwashed with the old stuff. Full quote: “Mouthwash misunderstanding! I’ll get over it.” … "I’ve had two spits of it. TWO!” ….”I thought I was using the very last bit in the bottle.”
“I’m a team-sport-kind-of-person!”
-Mercy, about why it’s okay that she's an adventure racer who doesn’t know how to change her bike tire quickly. She said, “I’ll be studying the map while someone else changes my tire."
“Ahhhh, I want to do that!!!! That sounds scary-AZZZ!"
- Mercy’s excited response when I told her the radio was looking to interview one or two soloists for the concerto night. She’s such a thrill-seeker.
“We learnt that we are not very good at bunking.”
-Mercy reporting on what she learned at school on Friday, after she and Bree returned to school because they couldn’t feel good about a baking day at Drinkwaters on a day when all of their teachers would be giving placement interviews.
“I think I’m THAT!”
- Mercy exclaimed with enthusiasm when she heard the term ‘micromanager’ for the first time. “Two cool words put together! Micro - involved with the details, and ‘manager’ - involved with organizing everything!”
“Go, Bree!”
-Random NPGHS girl cheering Mercy at TSSA cross-country race in Hawera. Lots of people are getting Bree and Mercy mixed up these days.
“It’s like being a track athlete, but on a bigger track."
-Mercy, cracking up when she heard the team was going to do the Pouakai Circuit…again.
“I decided what I want to do for my birthday. Run the 4 peaks with Bree and Abby.”
-Epic 16-yo bday plan! Go, Mercy! I think my dad took us snow camping when I turned 16, since I’d always been curious about how the scouts could dig snow caves.
“Send it. Don’t take yourself too seriously. But do.”
-Oak’s last advice to Mercy before Hillary.
“A lot of people’s legs got stuck- mine just got really stuck.”
-Mercy, about why she couldn’t walk after the long paddling section of Hillary. October 10, 2020
“Markleton- the female half of Einstein’s brain. Also commonly known as Marce, Merce, Mercy, Schmogan Bogan, Haityitemitetimatongiyte, and MACINATOR the GREAT and GHASTLY ONE. Formerly known as Kernel or Crab.”
-Oak
“Abby bought a goat over the weekend! It was 40 dollars. Now she has a pet goat! It hangs out with all their lambies.”
-Mercy has awesome friends
“Don’t assume I’ll give up my Nokia just because I turn 16.”
-Mercy, loyal to her non-smartphone
“I can’t see a guy-I’d-really-like’s first compliment being that I’m cute.”
-Mercy’s reaction to the guy who wanted to hang out with her because she was ‘cute’.
“S for Hage.”
-What happens when you’ve been playing Contact for most of 39K.
“I think I weigh a round number. Like 50 or 60 or 70.”
-Mercy, when asked how much she weighs. Very helpful.
“I approve.” “Yo” “Yeah, buddy,” “Get up, Hage,” “Classic stitch up,” “Crack up,” “Oosh,” “Unlucky,” “Nailed it,” “Skuxx g,” “Chur,” “Oi,” “Rip.”
-Mercy has 13 responses that seem to be enough to respond to anything life throws her.
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