Everything Must Go

by Camille Pagán

That was when our friendship became a safe place, where secrets could be shared and promises didn’t even have to be spoken aloud in order to be kept.

When push came to shove, the only member of my family I was willing to disappoint was myself.

I’d once heard Hadley remark that disappointment was a more palatable form of sadness,

“It’s really not, Laine. People respect a person who doesn’t let others walk all over them. And would you rather be liked or respected?”

there were no “right” choices; there was only what we made of any given decision.

they were going to react however they reacted. All I had to do was leave room for them to have their own opinions and emotions while still having my own back.

But I was beginning to understand that the goal wasn’t always to make things simple and painless. Sometimes embracing the pain, and yes, the mess, was what it took to get to where you really wanted to be.