Sue Putnam

“No one reaches out to you for compassion or empathy so you can teach them how to behave better. They reach out to us because they believe in our capacity to know our darkness well enough to sit in the dark with them.”
― Brené Brown, The Power of Vulnerability: Teachings of Authenticity, Connections and Courage

“Right now, you know, everyone one is going to be there for you." I explained. "Everyone will surround you with love and you'll be busy and have things to keep your mind off the worst. And then in six weeks, or may be twelve weeks, everybody else's life is going to start to get back to normal. But your life isn't going to be normal again. As a matter of fact, as you probably understand already, it's going to get harder for you. And after a while you're going to start feeling guilty because you're going to be going to the same people constantly for help, or just to talk. And as their lives get back to normal, you going to start to worry about leaning on them too much. There might come a time when you think, I'm asking too much. I've got to stop complaining. So when you're down and you feel guilty for burdening your family and friends," I said, "pick up the phone and call me.”
― Joe Biden, Promise Me, Dad - A Year of Hope, Hardship, and Purpose

“Elsa knew that a library card—a thing they’d taken for granted all of their lives—meant there was still a future.”
― Kristin Hannah, The Four Winds

“I can't love you as much as I love you. I can't feel as happy as I am."..."Were you as sad as you were sad? As lonely as you were lonely? I wasn't." "Me neither. I would have died of it.”
― Marilynne Robinson, Lila