The Memory Box Quotes

“The thing about secrets is they’re mostly regrets, aren’t they? I mean, “good news” secrets aren’t really meant to be kept. Just the embarrassing, shameful kind. Everyone’s said or done something they wish they hadn’t. Maybe they were young and immature, or drunk and displayed temporary poor judgment. Do these things need to be broadcast? Should mistakes be tattooed on forearms?”
― Eva Lesko Natiello, The Memory Box

“One of the challenges with secrets is that they need disguises, which manifest as lies. Tinkering with the truth is an art form and, when done masterfully, can paint exquisite stories.”
― Eva Lesko Natiello, The Memory Box

“The pains in my heart don't go away these days. The heartaches are chronic; they layer on top of each other from one day to the next, thickening like a callus.”
― Eva Lesko Natiello, The Memory Box

“She could be striding out of a cloud of shrapnel right now, leaving a ballet of gaped mouths behind.”
― Eva Lesko Natiello, The Memory Box

“Some people are great collectors of secrets. They roll around, like swine, in the muck of them. They gloat with pride to be the bearer of indelicate news. I”
― Eva Lesko Natiello, The Memory Box

“No matter one’s age, it’s important to feel part of something. To feel like you belong.”
― Eva Lesko Natiello, The Memory Box

“I have no desire to wear my friends like charms on a bracelet. I have dear friends. We’re very close, too.”
― Eva Lesko Natiello, The Memory Box

“Once you’re out of college and your single days are behind you, you’re truly lucky if you’ve managed to hang on to any of those old friends—the ones you’ve handpicked by careful scrutiny and examination of their loyalty and judgment. Because if you do happen to lose those bosom buddies—due, say, to the rigorous, time-consuming, pay-your-dues career years, or the I-don’t-have-time-for-you-because-of-my-new-boyfriend-and-his-friends years, or the I’m-so-fat-and-depressed-I-can’t-see-anyone years—the next batch of friends you don’t get to choose. Your kids do. Because they are the parents of your children’s friends. So”
― Eva Lesko Natiello, The Memory Box

“Secrets are likes knives. Aren’t they? While some are dull, others can do quite a bit of damage.”
― Eva Lesko Natiello, The Memory Box

“But more to the point, I don’t care much for the word “kill,” with its negative implications. The word even sounds violent, whereas sometimes it’s not violent in the least. In fact, it’s often a quiet solution to a problem.”
― Eva Lesko Natiello, The Memory Box

“It’s impossible to un-know a secret. Once you know it, you own it. It can’t be returned like a borrowed book. Or burned like a love letter. The click of a mouse won’t delete it from the conscious mind. It’ll stick to the walls of your memory like dried oatmeal to a dish. The secrets you wish you never knew become a burden to lug. A bowling ball without holes.”
― Eva Lesko Natiello, The Memory Box

“But my mother was too busy for tea parties. She had Hummels to dust.”
― Eva Lesko Natiello, The Memory Box

“Where do memories go when you lose them?”
― Eva Lesko Natiello, The Memory Box

“The waiting room smells like an empty refrigerator,”
― Eva Lesko Natiello, The Memory Box

“Since moving here nearly six years ago, making friends has brought along a certain amount of self-examination. It’s like being a teenager all over again. No matter one’s age, it’s important to feel part of something. To feel like you belong. But the balancing act inevitably becomes how much of yourself are you willing to compromise in order to be part of a community?”
― Eva Lesko Natiello, The Memory Box

“I can’t shake this perpetual feeling that my body is hosting phantom parasites. They syphon my spirit and steal my strength and breathe my oxygen and poison my soul. If”
― Eva Lesko Natiello, The Memory Box

“It’s impossible to un-know a secret. Once you know it, you own it. It can’t be returned like a borrowed book. Or burned like a love letter. The click of a mouse won’t delete it from the conscious mind. It’ll stick to the walls of your memory like dried oatmeal to a dish. The secrets you wish you never knew become a burden to lug. A bowling ball without holes. Some”
― Eva Lesko Natiello, The Memory Box

“The old screens in Lilly’s windows billow in short snaps with the wind, which sounds different this morning. Last night it was aggressive, brusquely changing direction, wildly indecisive. This morning it just hisses. Like a snake. One long, languid sound, and then a snap of the screen. Secrets, secrets, secrets. I”
― Eva Lesko Natiello, The Memory Box

“Generally speaking, in this town, the Mommy network can be brutally judgmental. The sheer number of categories you will be judged on by other women is mind-boggling: Do you exercise, volunteer, have cleaning people; let your kids eat McDonalds, watch PG-13; do you belong to the public pool, private pool, country club; do you have a weekend house, beach house, ski house? How about your hair: do you straighten, highlight, color; do you get facials, waxed, laid? That’s”
― Eva Lesko Natiello, The Memory Box

“He often feels bad for not feeling bad. So he pouts to conjure self-condemnation. “Why”
― Eva Lesko Natiello, The Memory Box

“But the balancing act inevitably becomes how much of yourself are you willing to compromise in order to be part of a community?”
― Eva Lesko Natiello, The Memory Box

“Sometimes I actually think he barks “Me!” which wouldn’t be correct English, but I’d let it slide because he’s so cute. The”
― Eva Lesko Natiello, The Memory Box

“I don’t want to pry into the backstories of others with a crowbar and a meat hook. What’s happened to privacy anymore? Nothing is private. Everything is knowable. The”
― Eva Lesko Natiello, The Memory Box

“then. It would give me an opportunity to process. Or”
― Eva Lesko Natiello, The Memory Box

“No matter one’s age, it’s important to feel part of something. To feel like you belong. But the balancing act inevitably becomes how much of yourself are you willing to compromise in order to be part of a community?”
― Eva Lesko Natiello, The Memory Box