Sweet Tea & Snap Peas Quotes

“Change is a part of life, son,” says Grandpa. “But
you want to know two things that never change?”
“Death and taxes?” Grandma asks.
“No,” Grandpa says. “Sweet tea and snap peas.”
― McCaid Paul, Sweet Tea & Snap Peas

“Worryin’ is like sitting in a rockin’ chair. It don’t get you no further down the road.”
― McCaid Paul, Sweet Tea & Snap Peas

“It’s Sunday—my grandparent’s favorite day of the week. To them, Sundays are good for three things: church, rest, and fried chicken from Piggly Wiggly.”
― McCaid Paul, Sweet Tea & Snap Peas

“It’s nearly nightfall, the vast evening sky as resplendent and intricate as that quilt hanging from the wooden knob on the side of Grandma’s dresser. This sky is like the work of a seamstress, sown tangerine-orange, raspberry-pink, and dappled with cream-white clouds for an extra touch, the finished product so lush and vibrant that I could gape at it for hours.”
― McCaid Paul, Sweet Tea & Snap Peas

“Whenever I get so lonesome that my chest starts to ache, I open a book and read. I’ve found that reading cures nearly everything: boredom, loneliness, even anger. What’s great about books is that they’re reliable; they’re safe. Life changes, but the words in the books stay the same.”
― McCaid Paul, Sweet Tea & Snap Peas

“People don’t see you when you’re older. People like me and Ella…it’s like we’re
invisible. That’s how I feel…invisible.”
I looked at him for a moment, looked at the wrinkles on his face, the creases under his eyes, the faint white stubble along his jaw, the ruddiness of his nose, his cheeks. I loved his wrinkles, loved the lines of wisdom
on his brow, his forehead. Loved his calloused hands, the healthy red of his skin, the hairs on his head resembling pale-gray toothbrush bristles. “I can’t imagine not seeing you, Grandpa.” A tear slid down his cheek, catching in the corner of his mouth. “You’ll never be invisible to me.”
― McCaid Paul, Sweet Tea & Snap Peas

“I’m sorry.”
“What for?”
“For making you sad.”
With a weak smile, he says, “You make my heart too full to be sad.”
― McCaid Paul, Sweet Tea & Snap Peas

“I wish I had more time,” Grandpa says finally, the words a whisper. “Seventy years sounds like forever when you’re young, doesn’t it? But it’s not. It’s just a blink. Really no time at all.” He pauses. “But I can’t think of any better way to spend the last of it than with you.”
― McCaid Paul, Sweet Tea & Snap Peas

“It’s hotter’n a blister bug in a pea
patch.”
― McCaid Paul, Sweet Tea & Snap Peas

“Always.” I take another deep breath. “After they died, I felt like I was sinking. All the time. Sort of like my insides were all tangled up. Even breathing was hard.” A lump forms in my throat, but I continue. “Grandma calls that feeling grief. She said it’s normal to feel that
way after losing someone you love, but it didn’t feel normal. It felt like I was sick.”
― McCaid Paul, Sweet Tea & Snap Peas

“Son, there’s nothing right about war. Nothing good ever comes of it. And I’m no hero. Anyone who rallies for war, for so many guns in men’s hands, has never stood shivering in his boots in the middle of a battlefield.
And anyone who fights simply to be a man ain’t a man. He doesn’t have enough compassion.”
I start to understand then. Maybe it’s war that makes Grandpa look sad sometimes. Maybe it’s the thought that it can happen at any moment or the thought that there will always be war that makes him appear melancholy, like on those afternoons he sits stone-faced in his recliner while Hank Williams’ lonesome voice fills the
house, singing of the blue whippoorwill and the weeping robin. Maybe Grandpa wants me to realize that being a soldier doesn’t make someone a hero or a man, but having compassion does.”
― McCaid Paul, Sweet Tea & Snap Peas

“Rhett is sort of like a snap pea. He might be tiny, but someone’s got to give him a fightin’ chance.”
― McCaid Paul, Sweet Tea & Snap Peas

“My grandparents mostly fuss, drink sweet tea, and shell peas. They like to tell stories, too. They tell the best stories when they’re shelling peas.”
“Peas? What kind of peas?”
“Mostly purple-knuckle hulls with snaps. They love snaps.”
“What are snaps?”
“They’re the ones that are too small to shell. They look like little green beans. Typically, no one wants them since they’re hard to shell and they don’t look like much. But my grandparents mix them in with the rest of the peas. They don’t like wasting anything, so they just use them instead of throwing them away.”
― McCaid Paul, Sweet Tea & Snap Peas

“Right after church, my great Aunt Theresa comes to visit. She drives one of those long white Cadillacs which is so old that I can hear the muffler long before I spot the car. Whenever it sounds like a log truck is tearing
down our drive, nine times out of ten it’s my great Aunt Theresa.
Out of all of Grandpa’s sisters, she is the only one I can remember. Not because she always stores a pinch of snuff between her cheek and gum and not because a puff of brown dust escapes her mouth every time she speaks. It’s because my great Aunt Theresa is a twiddler. She’s constantly twiddling with something—a strand of hair, her nails, an earlobe, a sock, the bottom of her shoe.
But in the past five years, she’s developed a new twiddling habit—trailing her fingers up and down pillowcase fabric. In fact, she stores pillowcases everywhere, like in the trunk of her car or in the oversized purse always swinging from her hip. Where most people can’t go five minutes without their phone, Aunt Theresa can’t go five minutes without her pillowcase.”
― McCaid Paul, Sweet Tea & Snap Peas

“A middle school restroom is where pride goes to die.”
― McCaid Paul, Sweet Tea & Snap Peas

“We fall into silence again, but it isn’t awkward or uncomfortable. Instead, it’s peaceful—a silence that only exists with someone you love.”
― McCaid Paul, Sweet Tea & Snap Peas

“While I listen to Grandma’s story, I realize something: one day, I’m going to miss this. One day, life will snatch away moments like this, nothing left but a memory. But for now, I sit back and I listen, drinking tea, shelling
peas, and laughing so hard my ribs hurt.
And for once, I don’t worry about what comes next.”
― McCaid Paul, Sweet Tea & Snap Peas