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“The finest of pleasures are always the unexpected ones.” ERIN MORGENSTERN, THE NIGHT CIRCUS
“Aging is not 'lost youth' but a new stage of opportunity and strength.” BETTY FRIEDAN
Folks enjoy making claims about knowing exactly what they’d do in every situation, but the truth is, until it’s staring you in the face and it’s your situation, you don’t know a damn thing. It’s all a guess until it’s real and real decisions have to be made.”
loved how freely he laughed. And I loved how I never felt like he was laughing at me.
A teetotaler. Not toddler. But kind of a toddler just the same.
“We'll never be as young as we are tonight.” CHUCK PALAHNIUK, RANT
“At an early age I learned that people make mistakes, and you have to decide if their mistakes are bigger than your love for them.” ANGIE THOMAS, THE HATE U GIVE
“The one thing that unites all human beings, regardless of age, gender, religion, economic status, or ethnic background, is that, deep down inside, we all believe that we are above-average drivers.” DAVE BARRY, DAVE BARRY TURNS FIFTY
“I feel thin, sort of stretched, like butter scraped over too much bread.” J.R.R. TOLKIEN, THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING
“I do not think, sir, you have any right to command me, merely because you are older than I, or because you have seen more of the world than I have; your claim to superiority depends on the use you have made of your time and experience.” CHARLOTTE BRONTË, JANE EYRE
“All grown-ups were once children... but only few of them remember it.” ANTOINE DE SAINT-EXUPÉRY, THE LITTLE PRINCE
“That’s like telling the sun it shouldn’t rise, baby.” I scanned my hastily composed list. Satisfied, I passed the notepad to him. “It’s going to rise, no matter what you say or think or command it to do. The sun rises. Mothers worry.”
I know, I know, mothers are weird. But we can’t just stop wanting to nurture and fuss over our chickens simply because they’ve hatched.
“It is dangerous to be right in matters on which the established authorities are wrong.” VOLTAIRE, THE AGE OF LOUIS XIV
I missed her beyond reason; time had not dulled it. Time had honed it, sharpened it, and I’d started to wonder what I would think about when we were finally together and missing her didn’t occupy every moment of every day.
“People who long for their youth, for a simpler time, are really just longing for an existence of blissful ignorance, where other people’s struggles and suffering are conveniently kept quiet so as not to ruin their good time, or their ability to sleep at night. No such time has existed for me.”
“Subscribing to the rules imposed by a society that always failed me has never seemed necessary. Law and order didn’t give a shit about me—not when I was a kid in those homes, not when I was a runaway, not in the Army, not when I got back from overseas. Never. They never have. Fuck society and fuck law and order.”
“At least they didn’t throw themselves parades, pontificating about their Christian values while turning a blind eye to anything that doesn’t directly affect them. They ain’t Christians, they’re the pharisees. This country is full of hypocrites.
Adults trusting other adults was one thing. I believed in free will and self-determination. Folks made their bed; they needed to sleep in the consequences. But kids trusting the wrong adults didn’t deserve nasty consequences. They deserved protection and patience.
Have you seen what happened in Portugal? Drug-related deaths down by 90%. Who is the real bad guy? The drug dealer? Or the government that profits from making them a crime?”
“Wrinkles should merely indicate where the smiles have been.” MARK TWAIN
Nothing is quite the same as a hug from your child; it’s like being wrapped in contentment and happiness.
“We don't see people as they are. We see people as we are.” ANAÏS NIN, LITTLE BIRDS
How much of a selfish asshole would I have to be to take her away from people who were always better equipped to love and care for her than I’ve ever been?”
Freedom at the direct expense of another person’s wellbeing was the worst kind of evil. It was selfishness masquerading as liberty, hypocrisy wearing the clothes of perseverance and grit. I wanted none of it.
“You love her. And that’s why you want what’s best for her, even now. That’s why you stayed close but never intervened. You love her, and that’s why her happiness matters more to you
“To be half a century plus is wonderfully exciting, because I haven't lost any of my past, and I am free to stand on the rock of all that the past has taught me as I look to the future.” MADELEINE L'ENGLE, A CIRCLE OF QUIET
The previous chapter of my life was at an end, an entirely new one was set to begin, and wasn’t that a bit of a miracle? The past twenty plus years of my life—everything but my children, of course—might eventually become nothing but a footnote in my story. How wonderful that we as people could reinvent ourselves, have new loves, a new life, new adventures, a future that wasn’t predestined.
Certainly, neither of us were perfect. And perhaps that made us perfect for each other.
