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Kindle Notes & Highlights
Gail said she is Frank’s manager’s girlfriend and “straight,” which means boring and not a performer.
“A nose circus” is what my daddy calls rooms with too many smells.
Everyone in Hawaii has a tutu. It means “grandmother.”
One thing I was born intrinsically knowing that has never left me: life is not worth living if those I love suffer, suffer alone, or get left behind.
“Try comedy a hundred times before you decide.”
“To feel you belong is a human need, and needs are nonnegotiable. Met needs fill you up and motivate you to keep going.”
I notice the article my mother has left behind. A piece she’s clipped from a newspaper, an article on how the madness and mental illness of one family member affects the sane rest of the family.
I am learning that nothing moves these people to be loving. I am a number to be spent, earned, lost, bargained with. We are not a family; we are a family business. * * *
My brothers walk me down the aisle and give me away.
“Give her away”? Ew. I’m surprised she participated in this part of the patriarchal traditions of weddings.
“Children become what they experience. You have to demonstrate these qualities. You have to live them and your values yourselves.”
I think of the Ram Dass quote about how in the end we are all just walking each other home.
you can die before you die and live beyond your death.
How do you heal? You make a decision. Mine is this: no more bullies allowed. Mean people suck. Everyone makes mistakes. But I don’t have to keep welcoming them with open arms.
