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January 5 - January 6, 2024
I often had to remind myself to not let speculations and anxieties about other people’s thoughts and feelings derail my life.
I was used to it taking a long time for my brain to let go of a hurtful comment.
“A real toast this time. To fresh starts.”
“For what it’s worth, I think your bluntness is kind of amazing.”
people think of the kind of person you are is—like it or not—ten times more important than your fiscal policy.
The truth was, I didn’t know. I’d never been good at understanding how I felt or even what I thought when put on the spot.
My feelings usually dawned on me hours or even days later, like watercolor paint slowly blooming on a canvas.
But like always, the anxiety of being in an argument made my stomach tighten and throat feel thick, so I could barely speak.
“I love a good two-different-worlds story,” Muriel said dreamily.
This is why I read all day. To escape the blasted world.”
Why participate in hard and disappointing reality when you could escape into a book?
Waiting for someone else to swoop in and take care of the hard stuff, like Lee was so good at, or waiting to meet the right guy who would magically solve all my problems, like Prince Rupert tried to do for Sophia.
Sometimes you had to save yourself.
Maybe there were certain things—certain people and possibilities—I hadn’t allowed myself to see, simply because they’d seemed so wildly outside my comfort zone.
“I don’t know, honey. Maybe I just couldn’t give him what he needed.”
You couldn’t count on anyone to stick around, it turned out, not even your family.
Some people who would always just love you and be there.
No love was free: you had to constantly earn it, or else lose it.
If you want to be in a position to change things, you’ve got to do it.”
Escaping into reading’s my happy place, so libraries were always safe,
“I’ve found there can be a lot of truth in fiction.”
Even just the way they look at you. People are constantly telling you who they are if you’re willing to step back and listen.”
I want to assure you the last thing you need to worry about is whether I have feelings for you.
“I won’t apologize for appreciating a good deal,” Logan muttered. “I’m a simple man.”
The less talking you do, the lower the odds you’ll say something wrong.”
Thanks for the question. The campaign will get back to you.
people told you who they were in a million different ways.
“I trusted you knew what you were doing. And obviously, I was right. You’re a natural.”
That’s the nicest thing anyone’s ever said to me.”
“Simple, unpretentious. Like Odejo. Which is far from perfect, but I do miss it from time to time.”
“What’s your favorite childhood memory?”
“I’d go the whole wide world, I’d go the whole wide world, just to find her.”
“I don’t want to get my heart broken again.”
I’d always attributed the rejection to the lacking in me that I couldn’t put a finger on.
We were so different.
What a comedy of errors for our paths to have crossed the way they did.
simply existing was political—taking up space in the world, on bookshelves.
He was hurt the way a person was when someone they trusted betrayed them.
don’t like failing, either. But I’m a big believer in taking risks.”
proximity bonding,
I’m scared to be the most important person in something’s life. I’m scared to have it all come down to me.
What if I’m not good enough? What if there are better options for parents?”
“You know, when you really smile, you do it with your whole face. I can see your smile in your eyes. It’s the best thing.”
Logan’s always had a single-minded drive.”
“I want you to be happy,”
Sometimes the unexpected thing is the right thing.
Why he was so endlessly fascinating.
my father left because she’d stopped being what he needed.
family was as fragile as glass made me heartsick
I wondered what it would feel like to see a book with my name on it on a library shelf.
