Steven Rowley > Quotes

“It's natural, as our loved ones age, to start grieving their loss. Even before we lose them.”
― Steven Rowley, Lily and the Octopus

“Grief orbits the heart. Some days the circle is greater. Those are the good days. You have room to move and dance and breathe. Some days the circle is tighter. Those are the hard ones.”
― Steven Rowley, The Guncle

“To focus, I think of how dogs are witnesses. How they are present for our most private moments, how they are there when we think of ourselves as alone. They witness our quarrels, our tears, our struggles, our fears, and all of our secret behaviors that we have to hide from our fellow humans. They witness without judgment.”
― Steven Rowley, Lily and the Octopus

“A heart is judged not by how much you love, but by how much you are loved by others.”
― Steven Rowley, Lily and the Octopus

“Because dogs live in the present. Because dogs don’t hold grudges. Because dogs let go of all of their anger daily, hourly, and never let it fester. They absolve and forgive with each passing minute. Every turn of a corner is the opportunity for a clean slate. Every bounce of a ball brings joy and the promise of a fresh chase.”
― Steven Rowley, Lily and the Octopus

“Someone once said give a dog food and shelter and treats and they think you are a god, but give a cat the same and they think they are the god.”
― Steven Rowley, Lily and the Octopus

“If you spend your entire life trying to cheat death, there's no time left over to embrace life.”
― Steven Rowley, Lily and the Octopus

“Guncle Rule number eight: Live your life to the fullest every single day, because every day is a gift. That’s why people die. To teach us the importance of living.”
― Steven Rowley, The Guncle

“The very best thing about dogs is how they just know when you need them most, and they’ll drop everything that they’re doing to sit with you awhile. I”
― Steven Rowley, Lily and the Octopus

“need you to remember something. We’ll call it Guncle Rule sweet sixteen: I want you to really live. To live is the rarest of things. Most people merely exist.”
― Steven Rowley, The Guncle

“Books should be an experience, he thought, not a trophy for having read them.”
― Steven Rowley, The Guncle

“People who love each other fight. The opposite of love isn’t anger. It’s indifference. When people stop fighting, that’s when you should be worried.”
― Steven Rowley, The Guncle

“Most of all, I am thankful for Lily, who, since she entered my life, has taught me everything I know about patience and kindness and meeting adversity with quiet dignity and grace. No one makes me laugh harder, or want to hug them tighter. You have truly lived up to the promise of man’s best friend.”
― Steven Rowley, Lily and the Octopus

“Dogs are always good and full of selfless love. They are undiluted vessels of joy who never, ever deserve anything bad that happens to them.”
― Steven Rowley, Lily and the Octopus

“Normal is a terrible thing to aspire to,” Patrick had said. “Aim higher.”
― Steven Rowley, The Guncle

“After a pause Lily looks up at me. “Sometimes I think of you as Dad.” My heart rises in my throat. That’s the only term of endearment I need.”
― Steven Rowley, Lily and the Octopus

“I have to be better about living in the not knowing.”
― Steven Rowley, Lily and the Octopus

“What do we say in this house? Boys can do girl things and girls can do boy things. That’s not even a Guncle Rule, there shouldn’t even be boy things and girl things to begin with. People should just do what they want.”
― Steven Rowley, The Guncle

“Why do you like boys?” Grant asked sourly, but with slightly more boredom than judgment.
“I don’t know, why do you like pizza?”
“Because it tastes good in my mouth.”
Patrick wasn’t about to go anywhere near that.”
― Steven Rowley, The Guncle

“Yours is by far the harder lot, but mine is happening to me.”
― Steven Rowley, Lily and the Octopus

“To die would be an awfully big adventure. But it’s not true. Life is the real adventure. Having the hurricane inside you is the true adventure. And then I think not of Cate Blanchett as Queen Elizabeth I, but of Mel Gibson as William Wallace. Everyone dies. Not everyone really lives.”
― Steven Rowley, Lily and the Octopus

“The books were easy to restack, but he pulled a few titles to donate, anyhow. Books should be an experience, he thought, not a trophy for having read them.”
― Steven Rowley, The Guncle

“Grief is a pathological condition. It’s just that so many of us go through it in life that we never think to treat it as such.”
― Steven Rowley, Lily and the Octopus

“There are two tragedies in life: one is not getting what you want, the other is getting it.”
― Steven Rowley, The Guncle

“Somewhere, sometime, I stopped really living. I stopped really trying. And I don't understand why.”
― Steven Rowley, Lily and the Octopus

“Never love anyone who treats you like you’re ordinary.” —OSCAR WILDE”
― Steven Rowley, The Guncle

“She taught me everything I know about patience, kindness, strength, and unconditional love. For that, I am forever in her debt. Lily, you were, quite simply, the greatest to me.”
― Steven Rowley, Lily and the Octopus

“The distribution of loss is inequitable. That's just the way it is. That's just the way the world works. There's no one handing it out. There's no one making sure everyone gets a fair share.”
― Steven Rowley, Lily and the Octopus

“Okay.' I can feel the letters vomit off my tongue.
O.
K.
A.
Y.
I watch the vet insert the syringe into the catheter and inject the second drug. And then the adventures come flooding back:

The puppy farm.
The gentle untying of the shoelace.
THIS! IS! MY! HOME! NOW!
Our first night together.
Running on the beach.
Sadie and Sophie and Sophie Dee.
Shared ice-cream cones.
Thanksgivings.
Tofurky.
Car rides.
Laughter.
Eye rain.
Chicken and rice.
Paralysis.
Surgery.
Christmases.
Walks.
Dog parks.
Squirrel chasing.
Naps.
Snuggling.
'Fishful Thinking.'
The adventure at sea.
Gentle kisses.
Manic kisses.
More eye rain.
So much eye rain.
Red ball.

The veterinarian holds a stethoscope up to Lily's chest, listening for her heartbeat.
All dogs go to heaven.
'Your mother's name is Witchie-Poo.' I stroke Lily behind her ears the way that used to calm her. 'Look for her.'
OH FUCK IT HURTS.
I barely whisper. 'She will take care of you.”
― Steven Rowley, Lily and the Octopus

“How do you stand?
How do you breathe?
How do you go on?”
― Steven Rowley, Lily and the Octopus