“THE DASH SADDENS ME. THE SIMPLICITY MISSES SO much. It doesn’t allow for all the downs that bring a person low or the joys that lift them up. All the bends and turns that make up a lifetime are flattened and erased. The dash on a tombstone is wholly inadequate. Everything around it is more remarkable. The name, etched in cursive or dignified fonts. Sometimes a photo is carved into the grey granite, giving life to the dead. Yet the dash, that line that carries the entire sum of a life within it, is unremarkable.”
― The Berry Pickers
― The Berry Pickers
“… life is long. Lots of things can go wrong and still end up all right.”
―
―
“They...think their traumas are the most interesting thing about them."
"If their traumas are the most interesting things about them, how do they get over any of it?”
― Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow
"If their traumas are the most interesting things about them, how do they get over any of it?”
― Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow
“I found it strange that no word exists for a parent who loses a child. If children lose their parents, they are orphans. If a husband loses his wife, he’s a widower. But there’s no word for a parent who loses a child. I’ve come to believe that the event is just too big, too monstrous, too overwhelming for words. No word could ever describe the feeling, so we leave it unsaid.”
― The Berry Pickers
― The Berry Pickers
“To fear is to torture yourself.”
― The Candid Life of Meena Dave
― The Candid Life of Meena Dave
Michelle’s 2025 Year in Books
Take a look at Michelle’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
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