Mai does the lion’s share of the speaking and eating (I give her my cone once I’ve had enough), and all I know for certain, with the sun on our faces and the sweet ice cream holding our attention, is that this is a day that I will never forget.
-- Willow (Chapter 1 paragraph 23)

Importance: Ironically, Willow did not know that her parents had just been killed in a traffic accident when she said it was a day she would never forget. Though she thought at the time it was a great day because she had finally found a friend, she would later try to block the memory of the day from her mind.

On the 7th day of the 7th month (is it any wonder I love the number?) my new parents drove north to a hospital 257 miles from their home, where they named me after a cold-climate tree and changed the...
-- Willow (Chapter 2 paragraph 21)