Under Her Care Quotes

“because addicts are some of the most heartbreaking people to love.”
― Lucinda Berry, Under Her Care

“Pain only lets you push it away for so long until it demands to be heard.”
― Lucinda Berry, Under Her Care

“People always think the scariest thing about sociopaths is that they don’t feel any empathy. That’s not it at all. The scariest thing about sociopaths is that they feel no empathy but are so good at pretending they do.”
― Lucinda Berry, Under Her Care

“Have you seen my high school transcripts?” She snorts. “I was involved in everything. Anything that kept me out of the house. You should worry about the kids who never want to be at home.”
― Lucinda Berry, Under Her Care

“It’s different for dads. Nobody judges dads for their kids’ behavior like they do moms. Dads are rewarded just for being around. When Davis took Harper to the grocery store and she freaked out in the checkout lane over not getting candy or a cheap toy, nobody looked at him like he should have her under control or like he was responsible for her misbehavior. People bent over backward to help him all the time. That’s what usually happens with dads. But moms? I can’t count the number of snotty looks I’ve gotten in stores when Harper’s thrown a fit. I’ve never once had someone offer to help me with anything, even in those times when I was clearly struggling and on the verge of bursting into tears. And believe me, there’ve been plenty of those times. So Genevieve’s not alone in worrying about how her kid’s actions will reflect on her.”
― Lucinda Berry, Under Her Care

“It’s no secret that kids with ASD can be aggressive, and people never understand that it’s not because they’re violent. It’s almost always because they’re intensely frustrated or can’t communicate what they want, but nobody ever sees it that way, and their judgment toward Mason only gets worse the older he gets. People used to be so sweet and kind to us. Back then, he was cute as a button, and his huge, half-terrified blue eyes melted your heart even if he was kicking or throwing things at you. All you wanted to do was help him feel better. But now? All that’s different. I see the way everyone looks at him. How they clutch their purses next to themselves when he comes close, like violence and stealing go hand in hand. Nobody’s kind, and they’re definitely not helpful. They turn their noses up at him like they smell something funny when he starts smacking his hands together or repeating the same sentence over and over again. People purposefully cross to the other side of the street when they see us coming. It makes me so angry and heartsick.”
― Lucinda Berry, Under Her Care

“used”
― Lucinda Berry, Under Her Care

“I’ve never understood heroin junkies. Nothing about it looks attractive—just ugly and pathetic.”
― Lucinda Berry, Under Her Care

“People who are in lots of pain react in all kinds of crazy ways. Do all kinds of crazy things.”
― Lucinda Berry, Under Her Care

“It’s different for dads. Nobody judges dads for their kids’ behavior like they do moms. Dads are rewarded just for being around.”
― Lucinda Berry, Under Her Care

“you”
― Lucinda Berry, Under Her Care

“That’s a lot of stuff for someone so young to go through. I’m sorry you had to learn how to take care of yourself when you were still a child. No kid should have to do that.”
― Lucinda Berry, Under Her Care

“he’ll do just about anything for kisses—real ones or chocolate.”
― Lucinda Berry, Under Her Care

“He’s out there.”
― Lucinda Berry, Under Her Care

“Pain only lets you push it away for so long until it demands to be heard. Then you can’t stop it.”
― Lucinda Berry, Under Her Care

“addicts are some of the most heartbreaking people to love.”
― Lucinda Berry, Under Her Care

“I never trust perfect.”
― Lucinda Berry, Under Her Care

“When you're a kid, you feel things when they're wrong. Everything goes by your feelings because you don't really understand all the stuff going on around you.”
― Lucinda Berry, Under Her Care

“You should worry about the kids who never want to be at home”
― Lucinda Berry, Under Her Care

“Nobody knows the insides of a woman like her daughter”
― Lucinda Berry, Under Her Care

“A mothers rejection cuts to the core. Its impossible not to feel her grief.”
― Lucinda Berry, Under Her Care

“Anyway, I figured there was no better way to make Mason a hero than having him save the mayor’s wife. That’s why I paid someone to attack her while she was running. Mason was supposed to stumble on them and make it look like he saved her. Throw him off her, and she’d tell the frightened story of how he’d rescued her. We practiced the throw hundreds of times just like we’d practiced for all his psychological tests. He learned it almost as fast as he’d learned how to not react to physical pain. Mason’s always been such a fast learner, especially if you take away his food, and he’ll do just about anything for kisses—real ones or chocolate. I can’t believe this is happening after I was so careful. I took my time finding the right guy for the job. Nothing about it was rushed or hurried. I responded to lots of different handyman ads on Craigslist and screened each one thoroughly before letting anyone near my house. Even fewer got selected for the job, and then I watched them for weeks, testing them out on little tasks first to see if they could be trusted. I was so cautious and careful, but I knew something had gone horribly wrong from the moment Simon instead of the guy I hired from Craigslist stepped out from behind the trees. It’s only gotten worse since.”
― Lucinda Berry, Under Her Care

“When you start graduate school, everyone thinks of the world so differently. You have this idealistic view that there’s this beautiful system put in place by the government and, ultimately, the universe that’s designed to keep kids safe and bring people to justice. It only took a few months in actual practice for my entire perception and worldview to shift. Not just on foster care; it made me question everything. Seeing humanity at its worst has that effect on people, and you never know how you’ll respond to a child who’s been kept in a cupboard and fed dog food until you meet your first one. Lots of people change programs or majors because they can’t make the shift.”
― Lucinda Berry, Under Her Care

“What’s done is done. The past is the past. That’s what my mama always says too. Stop your crying and get over it—that’s another one of her favorite sayings.”
― Lucinda Berry, Under Her Care

“We never know. We always think we’ll know, but we don’t. Every woman I know whose husband had an affair never saw it coming even when the signs were obvious. They were there with Davis too. Not that he left me for an actual woman—just the freedom to go find one who was nothing like me—but his unhappiness and jitters were there. The way he no longer spoke about our life like he was happy about it or like it was something he wanted. He talked about our life like he was enduring it, surviving. I was so shocked when he announced he was leaving me that I just started laughing hysterically”
― Lucinda Berry, Under Her Care

“What if he’s too textbook? Savannah interrupts my thoughts. “Sometimes I think I made our childhood up, you know? Like those days never existed. It’s hard to remember Mason ever being another way other than what he’s like now, and according to my mom, he never was. Part of you starts believing her lies. You’ll see. Everyone does.” She gives me a pointed look. “She’s amazing that way. She turns your own thoughts against you. She’ll take your words and twist them until you don’t even recognize them. Until you find yourself apologizing to her for what she’s done. Feeling bad that you did something wrong by being angry about it or questioning her.” “Last”
― Lucinda Berry, Under Her Care

“Rage fits are like seizures: once you have one, your threshold goes down for another.”
― Lucinda Berry, Under Her Care

“someone trained him to take these tests and to look a certain way on them. I can’t imagine the amount of time and attention it requires to do something like that. Why would anyone want to make him look intellectually disabled? And if they created his intellectual disability, did they create his autism too? What kind of a cruel person does that?”
― Lucinda Berry, Under Her Care

“I end up seeing half my clients for free or reduced costs because it’s not fair that the only people with access to expert help are the ones who can afford to pay for it.”
― Lucinda Berry, Under Her Care

“He gives me a hands shrug. “Aren’t you supposed to be the expert on getting people to do what they don’t want to do?” “I’m not that kind of psychologist.” I laugh.”
― Lucinda Berry, Under Her Care