Dog Flowers Quotes

“After my mother's pastor left her room, I stood there berating myself for agreeing to let him pray. If I were more like Eileen, I could channel my rage and do some real damage. I would be better equipped to stand up to men like him. But the longer I stood there, the more I realized I wasn't really angry at myself. I wasn't even angry at my mother. I was angry at things outside our control. I was angry at the broken communities we were born into, and the godly men who perpetuated the cycles of abuse. Who told us to seek happiness in ignorance and faith in a God who seemed indifferent to our suffering. Who taught us to forgive too readily, and that forgiveness restored power, when in my experience, forgiveness had only taken my power away.”
― Danielle Geller, Dog Flowers: A Memoir

“The argument shifted, and she told me I was stupid to marry a man I had just met. It wasn't possible for me to know him. And when I tried to tell her what I loved about him—our shared worldview, the things we wanted out of life—she told me my version of love wasn't love. She told me love should be passionate, full of fireworks. She told me I had never loved her, that I always chose my father over her. I tried to explain that I took care of him so she didn't have to, that I took care of him out of love for them both. It was a crazy thing, to be screaming about love.”
― Danielle Geller, Dog Flowers: A Memoir