Olivia

“That real mother, the mother that you get, you've got to love her, there's no choice. She is the mother you needed. She gave you strength, either because she loved you well or because she loved you poorly. She gave you your mission.
It's the dream mother that you have to let go of. The one you pined for, the one you thought your decency promised you. She's the one you've got to bury.
She's a mirage. She'll only break your heart.”
― Amity Gaige, Heartwood

“You’re afraid the real thing won’t match up to your memories of it,” Ramesh said. “And you’re absolutely right. That place stopped existing the moment you left. Maybe it didn’t even exist at all. Memory has a way of smoothing and polishing edges.”
― Samantha Sotto Yambao, Water Moon

“Then I’d turn around and walk the path back to the palace, carrying the hope that my children and my children’s children would make something even better, that they’d carry with them the memory that we had tried our best to give them something like home.”
― Dolen Perkins-Valdez, Happy Land

“Sometimes when you do someone wrong, it’s too overwhelming to figure out how to fix the hurt, and you end up being the one to leave.”
― Essie J. Chambers, Swift River