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She decided she liked ceremony: Once you learned what to do, how to do it, when to do it, you would always fit in just fine.
“A place for everything and everything in its place,”
although she adapted easily to different environments, she was essentially uncomfortable in big cities.
To women everywhere. May you find strength for the journey.
Nothing is the same when your father is gone.
An overabundance of natural beauty always stirred contrasting emotions within her: elation, despair; hope, despondency; anticipation, nostalgia.
answering questions with questions:
“How is that diet of yours going? I’ve been keeping you in my prayers.” Donna blushed, and looked down at the floor. “Not great, I’m afraid,” she said sheepishly. “The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
My motto is that it’s better to ask forgiveness than permission. What are they going to do, fire me?”
vitamin B12 as part of a “reconstitutional” remedy
the best reaction is no reaction,
The landscape of their family would be forever changed in many subtle ways if Henry died. When asked how many children were in her family, the answer would be reduced by one.
It’s like when you’re trying to get a knot out of a gold chain or something. You know that there is a real possibility that you could make it worse by messing with it, but at the same time you keep thinking, “If I could just pull that part through this loop, I am sure I could fix it.”
The thing to remember is that good decision-making is part logic and part gut. Experience is really the only way to get better at it. You have to make bad decisions sometimes just so you can see what that feels like. And you also learn from the process of making good decisions.
The early morning hours gently and generously shared revelations with Iris whenever she took the time to listen, and between a thought and a prayer, a regret and a hope,
How was she to determine where home really was for her, now that she had complicated her life further? Was it where the Capotosti clan clustered on holidays? Was it where you were born, or where you wanted to be when you died, or where you did all the in-between things? Was it a place you had to look for, or a place that found you? Did you reside in it, or did it reside in you? Or was it the place you ran away from, like she had been doing ever since she was a scraggly little girl with a blue valise.
‘the greater the love, the greater the sacrifice.’
regret and guilt are a waste of time.”
That was one benefit of suffering from insomnia and not having any drugs around - the days were twice as long.
Strong men want their women to believe in their own strength, they want them to pursue their own dreams, to challenge them, and to demand respect. Controlling men need women who are insecure, who lack confidence and conviction, who think poorly of themselves and who will do almost anything to stay in their good graces - including betraying themselves.
One of the most valuable things I’ve learned is that while I may not be able to control everything that happens, and I may not be able to purge the residuals of my past choices as quickly as I’d like to, I can control how I respond to my life.
