Bag Lady Quotes

“The loss of a mother is a partial loss of the self. It was for me. Her death cast me adrift, for she took with her her memory, both spoken and untold. She took all she might have divulged about herself, about me, for from the moment she passed, from the moment I watched her face soften and ease as she took death's hand. . . .a myriad of questions I might have asked descended on me like a sudden sleeve of rain. With her went all that possibility.”
― Sandra Benítez, Bag Lady: A Memoir

“I've kept . . .treasures because fragments of . . .stories are contained in them, and I have honored that.

I think of my family. Objects passed from hand to hand. Stories told, others not talked about. Dear friends and acquaintances recount stories of their own. In public places, behind walls and doors, voices rise. Stories float up and are deposited into the trunk of our collective unconscious. We have only to coax a lock to set the stories free.”
― Sandra Benítez, Bag Lady: A Memoir

“A person might have trouble understanding someone like me: a person who believes in the power of rituals. Prayer. Meditation. Candle lighting and incense burning. . . It works for me because in ritualizing something as significant as bidding Godspeed to whatever it is we find necessary to surrender, we acknowledge the leave-taking and can perhaps start to practice acceptance.

A noble thing, acceptance. A noble thing to strive for.”
― Sandra Benítez, Bag Lady: A Memoir