Aliyah

“Life is strange. Always thinking that this one thing is going to make you happy. Because then you get it. And then you’re maybe not as happy as you imagined you would be. Because every day is just every day. Like the happiness becomes so big you have no choice but to live inside it. Until you can no longer see or feel it. And so you start to fixate on something else.”
― Alison Espach, The Wedding People

“What would I say?” I ask. “If I wanted to, you know, pray?” Two of my mother’s synagogue friends eye me jealously from across the room. I would die if anyone overheard this conversation. “Well, there are books. But you can also just say what’s in your heart. Say what feels right to you.” “But … where would I even start?” “Oh, you can start very simple,” he says. “Two of my favorite prayers are ‘Help me’ and ‘Thank you.’” “Those are prayers?” “Those are excellent prayers.”
― Coco Mellors, Cleopatra and Frankenstein

“But the people who did get that love, they grew up to be different from us. More secure. Maybe they’re not as shiny or successful as you and I feel we have to be. But it’s not because they’re not interesting. They just don’t feel they have to do the tap dance, you know? They don’t have to prove themselves all the time to be loved. Because they always were.”
― Coco Mellors, Cleopatra and Frankenstein

“I guess that’s what life should feel like, setting off on a long car ride with all your worries and hopes strapped around you, the people who love you most frantically waving you off as you go”
― Coco Mellors, Cleopatra and Frankenstein