Every Borrowed Beat Quotes

“Here’s my deep, dark, dirty secret—I felt safe being sick. No one expected much of me. I didn’t expect much of me. I was waiting, I told myself. I’d do something with my life when I got a new heart—when I got better. The problem was, even after I got the heart, I was still waiting for better. I was waiting to be happy. Waiting for my life to start. I couldn’t see that it already had. So I’m taking a note from my best friend. Her name is Chloe Munoz, and she died. But more importantly, she lived. And she was about the bravest person I know. She marveled at this life, even in the face of death. And really, that’s about the bravest thing we can do. So, I’m trying to be brave, too. My first step? This channel—TheLivingList. It’s a place where you don’t have to wait to be better. A place where kids who are sick or dying or waiting can tell their stories, share the lives they’re creating, celebrate the joy they find in the moments in between. The big ones, the small ones, the ones you carry with you. That’s something I learned from another friend, Mia. TheLivingList will be a combination of Mia and Chloe and me. Because what is life but waiting and living, beauty and tragedy, sickness and health, all swirled together into a beautiful mess? And our job isn’t to sort it all out. It’s to be part of it. To feel it all. I mean, isn’t that what hearts are for? People often tell me that this transplant is a gift. But it’s more than that. I think maybe knowing just how fragile it all is, how precious and beautiful and fleeting—that’s the real gift of life. Because I may have a hand-me-down heart, but this life is mine, and I plan to live every single borrowed beat. I hope you’ll join me, even if you’re not better yet. Even if you may never be.”
― Erin Stewart, Every Borrowed Beat

“Life isn’t measured in the number of beats. It’s measured in love.”
― Erin Stewart, Every Borrowed Beat