Casey Wilson > Quotes

“Anger demands you DO and sadness requires you be. For all my inherited comfort with anger, I find sitting in sadness to be excruciating. Anger is so much easier! It’s a quick release and it feels good in the moment, but it can really hurt people, which also hurts me. But if I can manage to sit in the uncomfortable feelings that lie beneath, even for a millisecond, I am offered a tiny gift. The gift of a pause. And in that pause a crack of light comes in and I’m able to see things a little more clearly. I know to immediately turn my phone off or, if I’m driving, pull over and put it in the trunk both for its own safety and so I don’t call anyone. And if I’m still mad after a few hours, great. I now know it’s something worth being angry about. But the pause allowed me to gather myself and harness my anger so I can now aim it in an appropriate”
― Casey Wilson, The Wreckage of My Presence

“It’s very Scorpionic to ruin good things at the last second.” This rang true; I barely ever concluded a nice weekend trip with family or friends without burning it all down in the last two minutes. Was this what I looked like??”
― Casey Wilson, The Wreckage of My Presence

“I’m furious. In today’s climate we all should be. Have to be. If you AREN’T angry—amidst a global pandemic, systemic racism, and a disintegrating planet—there’s something wrong with you, boo.”
― Casey Wilson, The Wreckage of My Presence

“And acknowledge the truth. It wasn’t just our “hard work” that got us where we are. My grandma and parents paid for my college. In my early twenties my mom sent me money with the earmark “Follow your dreams.”
― Casey Wilson, The Wreckage of My Presence

“repeated what a cognitive behavioral therapist once told me to repeat in difficult situations: “This is the moment I find myself in.”
― Casey Wilson, The Wreckage of My Presence

“Don’t be an anti-vaxxer.”
― Casey Wilson, The Wreckage of My Presence

“A bed person is someone who wants to recline at all times. When lying down is not an option, we will find a way to remain seated, preferably at an angle, and if we have to stand you will never not find us in a deep lean.”
― Casey Wilson, The Wreckage of My Presence

“Deescalating a fight wasn't one of my mom's strong suits. That night, whenever things would start to die down, we would hear, "You do not scare me. Let that sink in.”
― Casey Wilson, The Wreckage of My Presence

“Nonbath people don’t get it. They’re always saying inane things like, “Don’t you feel like you’re just sitting in your own filth??” Or, “Don’t you get bored in there?” I want to ask, “Did YOU get bored in the womb?”
― Casey Wilson, The Wreckage of My Presence

“The [diet] regimen was always the same: cut out sugar, dairy, and carbs and have a great one! Well, no doy, you ding dong dang idiots. I knew what to do but I was in search of how to do it”
― Casey Wilson, The Wreckage of My Presence

“Playdates are tense because I am desperate for him to connect and play and have fun with other kids. But he usually asks to leave as soon as we get there or doesn't engage whatsoever, and I drive home in tears, demoralized.
In the car after one such afternoon I ask him what he wants to be when he grows up and he replies: "A stranger. A stranger who sits alone in a movie theater eating popcorn and no one talks to them.”
― Casey Wilson, The Wreckage of My Presence

“Nothing will threaten a friendship like screaming at a girlfriend "Your husband is a little bitch!" at a Buca di Beppo in Studio City.”
― Casey Wilson, The Wreckage of My Presence

“But I try to forgive myself. I hope my mom has forgiven me for laughing. As I've forgiven Barbara. And I hope younger women will forgive me. And even younger women will forgive them. And so on. And so forth.
However, five years ago, when Barbara sent me a friend request on Facebook, I hit ignore so hard I almost broke my hand.”
― Casey Wilson, The Wreckage of My Presence

“And while we’re at it, you may have guessed that I also love Ambien; NyQuil (none of this melatonin shit); wine; tequila; piña coladas; margaritas (vodka is for people who want to punish themselves); CBD gummies (I’m solely there for the gummy); a rogue pill a friend has left over after a surgery; half-and-half with a splash of coffee, two Splenda, and three pumps of peppermint; candy; Cinnabon; Wetzel’s Pretzels; Annie’s Pretzels; furry slippers and fuzzy robes; trashy magazines; garbage television; unconfirmed gossip; spas; lasers; luxury; healers of all stripes; extravagant gifts; surprise parties; choreographed dances with friends at any age; karaoke; musicals; Christmas decorations that include a “table tree;” naps; joining gyms I will never go to; hiring trainers I pay up front and then never go to; starting radical diets I never follow through on . . . I overspend, I overeat, I overdo.”
― Casey Wilson, The Wreckage of My Presence

“It’s a tribute to his late mother—a phrase she used after she had a fantastic dinner, or after a perfect day, or when an experience was so meaningful it changed the course of her life. “OH, DID WE ENJOY.” I love that. Oh, did we enjoy. Indeed. We did.”
― Casey Wilson, The Wreckage of My Presence

“When she was four, I cut Maddie Brennan’s bangs with a pair of gardening shears.”
― Casey Wilson, The Wreckage of My Presence

“In seventh-grade orchestra, we had to sell candy to raise money for our rinky-dink field trips to Crystal City, an underground shopping nightmare where we would sing Christmas carols and pray a natural disaster didn’t seal us into its tunnels.”
― Casey Wilson, The Wreckage of My Presence

“Don’t clutch your water bottle so smugly. This seems like a small issue, but I’m going somewhere with this! I don’t mean this in regards to the environment (love to see everyone with a sustainable bottle). What I object to is the way some women (mostly women, so sorry) clutch their water bottles proudly, bragging about the fact that they drink water throughout the day. WE GET IT! YOU’RE HYDRATED! CONGRATS! The constant clutching feels like a subtle cue you want me to catch that YOU PRACTICE SELF-CARE! YOU VALUE YOUR HEALTH!!! That’s great! But not everybody does, so keep it to yourself. And you certainly don’t need a jug the size of a tire. It’s visually distracting and aggressive. Please”
― Casey Wilson, The Wreckage of My Presence

“And while we’re at it, you may have guessed that I also love Ambien; NyQuil (none of this melatonin shit); wine; tequila; piña coladas; margaritas”
― Casey Wilson, The Wreckage of My Presence

“One is not born a bed or bath person. Though genetics clearly play a role, I believe it’s learned behavior.”
― Casey Wilson, The Wreckage of My Presence

“It’s so deeply unfair to me that a man can hide his misgivings in clothing while women’s bodies can’t help but be on display.”
― Casey Wilson, The Wreckage of My Presence

“Don't whistle. My mom used to say, "Avoid whistlers at all costs." ... As I've gotten older I think I get why. On a basic level, it's creepy. But beyond that, whistling is basically saying, I am so incredibly at ease in this world I feel fine filling the few sacred silences we have left with the sound of my dippity-doo-dah dipshit whistle. I (don't) hate to generalize, but I've noticed that it's usually white men who do this?”
― Casey Wilson, The Wreckage of My Presence

“embarrassingly acted as though we were”
― Casey Wilson, The Wreckage of My Presence

“Don’t say to a fellow housewife: “Your titties are social distancing, bitch” (Porsha Williams). Actually, PLEASE DO, this is a delightful slam.”
― Casey Wilson, The Wreckage of My Presence

“favor Pilates classes that let me work out while lying down on a Reformer”
― Casey Wilson, The Wreckage of My Presence

“And while most parents would separate their kids or scream at them to stop, my dad would look at the clock and yell, “Annnnnnnnd this begins our two-minute fighting period! GOOOOO.” And for the full two minutes, we would beat the shit out of each other. If one of us was getting truly hurt, my mom would cry out, “Paul, stop, make them stop!” And my dad would say, “Kathy, you KNOW I can’t stop them during the formal fighting period. It’s out of my hands.”
― Casey Wilson, The Wreckage of My Presence