All Over the Place: Adventures in Travel, True Love, and Petty Theft

by Geraldine DeRuiter

But the real manner in which love works is much subtler. It does fix things. Or maybe, more accurately, it makes you fix things. You start to realize that if someone else loves you that much, maybe you should try to love yourself a bit more.

That’s the great thing about being in love. You don’t need to justify it or explain it to anyone. You just need to enjoy it and occasionally be reminded to put on pants.

I’m pretty sure this is the universe’s way of saying, “Stay still,” and also, “Maybe you shouldn’t have survived infancy.”

The author’s quick wit caught me by surprise every once & a while & I found myself rereading certain paragraphs thinking, “wait, did she actually just say that? Brilliant.”

It turns out, sometimes you just have to accept people for who they are. Trust me, it’s certainly less exhausting.

but I am unable to muster the reserves of energy required to do it because after three decades of being entirely unhinged I need a nap.

So relatable 😅

It, like virtually every other restaurant, bar, or gas station in Spain, served tapas. The Spanish invented these small dishes—usually tiny snacks speared on a toothpick—presumably in order to make amends to humanity for the Inquisition.

My technician for my MRI was tall, blond, and altogether far too handsome to put me at ease. He had a hint of a southern accent (“Louisiana,” he explained, which was entirely unfair of him. I am happily married).

I started by making a few phone calls. I should have told my mother in person—a right she had earned. When you help make something, you are entitled to a face-to-face visit when it goes in for repairs. But it was far easier to downplay the situation over the phone.

What matters is that you find the right person with whom to spend your time on this earth. Someone who will take care of you when you are sick. Who will love you and the extra hole in your head. Who will drive for hours while you sleep in the passenger seat. Someone who will show you how immense the universe is and still make you feel that you are the brightest thing in the sky. That’s why I don’t have a bucket list. Because I can’t imagine asking the universe for more than that.

🥰🥰🥰

Not everyone will see our greatness. We might not even see it. That doesn’t mean it isn’t there.