The Lost Husband Quotes

“A good man buys you tampons when you run out. He does the dishes. He makes you coffee before you're awake in the morning. He listens to you when you're talking, even if it's about home decor. He goes out of his way to touch you, even if it's just your hand. He doesn't call it 'babysitting' when he looks after his own children. He calls you from work just to hear your voice. And he always thinks you're beautiful, even---no, especially---when you don't.”
― Katherine Center, The Lost Husband

“Anything was possible. Everything was uncertain. But I knew one thing for sure: I'd bounced back before, and I would do it again and again and again. Because that's the only choice there is. And as many things as I still had to lose, I had just as many more left to find.”
― Katherine Center, The Lost Husband

“I'd tried so hard to make a perfect, untouchable life for myself. But trouble finds you. Tragedy finds you. And we keep trying anyway. We hope for the best. We believe we can make something for ourselves- something good that will last- even though, at the exact same time, we know we can't.”
― Katherine Center, The Lost Husband

“However, the trouble with getting what you've always wanted is that once you have it, you have to worry that you'll lose it.”
― Katherine Center, The Lost Husband

“You can't just wish strength for yourself. Or wisdom. Or resilience. Those things have to be earned.”
― Katherine Center, The Lost Husband

“Isn't there enough misery in the world? Do I really have to spend my leisure time absorbing more of it?”
― Katherine Center, The Lost Husband

“I don't want my kids to be like me. I want them to be better than me.”
― Katherine Center, The Lost Husband

“I have to go.'

'Just be careful about your expectations..'

'I want her to apologize.'

'Sweetheart,' Jean said, 'your mother is never going to apologize... Go see her if you need to. But remember who she is. Going to your mother for understanding is like going to the hardware store for bread.”
― Katherine Center, The Lost Husband

“All I knew was that watching your children survive their childhoods was so much worse than surviving your own.”
― Katherine Center, The Lost Husband

“But the trouble with getting what you’ve always wanted is that once you have it, you have to worry that you’ll lose it.”
― Katherine Center, The Lost Husband

“As a therapist, I always tell people that it’s not really what happens to you that matters as much as who you become in response to those things.”
― Katherine Center, The Lost Husband

“the way you had to lose one thing to find another.”
― Katherine Center, The Lost Husband

“Anything was possible. Everything was uncertain. But I knew one thing for sure: I’d bounced back before, and I would do it again and again and again. Because that’s the only choice there is. And as many things as I still had to lose, I had just as many more left to find.”
― Katherine Center, The Lost Husband

“It seemed so clear now—the way we were all connected, the way together and apart pushed and pulled on each other, the way you had to lose one thing to find another.”
― Katherine Center, The Lost Husband

“We found wisps of happiness snagged on brambles. We made all those ridiculous mistakes humans are so famous for. I’d tried so hard to make a perfect, untouchable life for myself. But trouble finds you. Tragedy finds you. And we keep trying anyway. We hope for the best. We believe we can make something for ourselves—something good that will last—even though, at the exact same time, we know we can’t.”
― Katherine Center, The Lost Husband

“the very worst thing I could possibly imagine had happened to me, but I was still okay.”
― Katherine Center, The Lost Husband

“You’ve already escaped,” I said, stroking her hair. “This stuff can’t touch you.” “But it can haunt me,” she said. “Well,” I said, “we’re all haunted by something.” And I was struck by how true that was.”
― Katherine Center, The Lost Husband

“You couldn’t stop the bully, even though you wanted to. I wanted to, too. But something better has happened. Abby stopped him herself. She showed us all.” “Do you think he’s really stopped?” I asked, afraid to even hope for it. “It doesn’t matter what he does,” Jean said. “Maybe O’Connor scared him into changing his ways, or maybe he just made him worse. Either way, he’s not going to bully Abby. Because she’s not a victim anymore.”
― Katherine Center, The Lost Husband

“You’d rather read that book than hang out with me,” I said one night on my way out the door. She shrugged as though it couldn’t be helped. “You have many great qualities,” she said, “but you’re not a time-traveling zombie.”
― Katherine Center, The Lost Husband

“Isn’t there enough misery in the world?” I said. “Do I really have to spend my leisure time absorbing more of it?” “Valid point,” he said.”
― Katherine Center, The Lost Husband

“Becky’s convinced it’ll give me peace of mind.” “But?” “But I don’t see peace of mind in my future.” “You’re more likely to see a thing,” Jean said, “if you look for it.”
― Katherine Center, The Lost Husband

“I found myself thinking about how parents always seem like giants to their kids. They seem to control the whole world. But of course that’s just perspective. It’s not that parents are big, it’s that kids are small. It’s not that parents are powerful, it’s that kids are powerless. My kids made the mistake all the time of thinking I should know things that I didn’t, or that I should be able to solve things that I couldn’t. There was no way for them to understand that I was just me—just a former child myself. And for the first time it hit me that my mother, in this way at least, was exactly the same.”
― Katherine Center, The Lost Husband

“A good man buys you tampons when you run out. He does the dishes. He makes you coffee before you’re awake in the morning. He listens to you when you’re talking, even if it’s about home décor. He goes out of his way to touch you, even if it’s just your hand. He doesn’t call it ‘babysitting’ when he looks after his own children. He calls you from work just to hear your voice. And he always thinks you’re beautiful, even—no, especially—when you don’t.”
― Katherine Center, The Lost Husband

“But she never did let reality get in the way of resentment.”
― Katherine Center, The Lost Husband

“You can never appreciate your children so fully as when they are asleep, when you're just a bystander. Awake, they're looking at you - for answers, for reactions - and being looked at can make it hard to see. When they're asleep, though, it frees you to do some looking yourself.”
― Katherine Center, The Lost Husband

“it’s not really what happens to you that matters as much as who you become in response to those things.”
― Katherine Center, The Lost Husband

“I’m really just a Republican. Jean just likes the way ‘nut job’ sounds.”
― Katherine Center, The Lost Husband

“was my neutral. Even raising kids, surrounded by life and chaos and noise, I carried this feeling around with me most of the time.”
― Katherine Center, The Lost Husband

“The truth is,” Jean said, “people let us down and harm us and treat us like shit over and over. Part of learning to be happy is—” “Avoiding people who do that?” I offered. “That,” Jean said, nodding, “and learning to bounce back after it happens. Because it will happen. Even people who love you will knock the hell out of you sometimes. That’s just life. And the more we practice, the better we get at shaking it off.”
― Katherine Center, The Lost Husband

“Now that I had them, though, I had no choice but to be grateful”
― Katherine Center, The Lost Husband