How we cite our quotes: (Paragraph)
Quote #1
You open your eyes and everything's just like yesterday, only it's today. (1)
This one could depend on how you read it, but we detect a hint of sadness in these words. After all, it is Rachel's birthday and she probably expected to wake up to find a day brimming with new possibilities. But nope, it's just another day. Maybe we'd expect this kind of thing from a 45 year old but at eleven? That's kind of sad, if you ask us.
Quote #2
And maybe one day when you're all grown up maybe you will need to cry like if you're three, and that's okay. That's what I tell Mama when she's sad and needs to cry. Maybe she's feeling three. (2)
Even mothers cry. Fathers, too—but don't expect them all to admit it. Notice that while she is with her mother, Rachel finds sadness and disappointment to be perfectly acceptable emotions. It's just three-year-old you, no biggie. That, dear Shmooper, is all going to change with that pesky red sweater.
Quote #3
Only today I wish I didn't have only eleven years rattling inside me like pennies in a tin Band-Aid box. Today I wish I was one hundred and two instead of eleven […]. (5)
Here, sadness is expressed in the simile "pennies in a tin Band-Aid box," which hints at a sort of emptiness that comes with feeling sad. It's as though Rachel is saying that being a fuller person and having the experience of more years would have prevented the sadness she feels.