Kat

“Healing by way of vengeance. But no such thing existed; it never had. Hurting others had only injured me further.”
― Sarah Penner, The Lost Apothecary

“But no benchmarks of excellence existed in motherhood, and she received no recognition for surpassing or even meeting these invisible standards. God did not reach down from heaven and mark the worthy. Instead, judgment rained down from grandparents, education experts, parenting columnists, in-laws, dentists, and strangers on airplanes. But the harshest judgment came from the endless whisper of self-reproach from within. It came on long days when she fell short of the invisible mark in some small or large way, failing the people she loved with a love so pure and primal that it took her breath away.”
― Christine Gunderson, Friends with Secrets

“Why do we go to such lengths to protect the fragile minds of children? We only robbed them of the truth--and the chance to grow numb to it before it arrived with a hard knock on the door.”
― Sarah Penner, The Lost Apothecary

“I can’t lose the thing I’ve held onto for so long, you know?” My face twists up from the pain of pushing it out. “I just really need it to be a love story, you know? I really, really need it to be that.”
“I know,” she says.
“Because if it isn’t a love story, then what is it”? I look to her glassy eyes, her face of wide open empathy. “It’s my life,” I say. “This has been my whole life.”
― Kate Elizabeth Russell, My Dark Vanessa