Ashok Rao

“He never wanted any of my friends round. I had plenty of friends when we first got married, but if they came to visit when he was at home, he’d be rude to them and make them feel uncomfortable. So, eventually, they made excuses and stopped coming.”
― Imogen Clark, Postcards From a Stranger

“Now I think it’s one of the most useless questions an adult can ask a child—What do you want to be when you grow up? As if growing up is finite. As if at some point you become something and that’s the end.”
― Michelle Obama, Becoming

“Today, my heart, like the front door, stands open for the first time in months.”
― Raymond Carver, All of Us: The Collected Poems

“In the past few months, all these public exchanges, all the countless social dealings that made up the fabric of the day, had come to seem incredibly difficult. I tried desperately to fit in, but for the most part I was only physically present, attempting to match my facial expressions to the people around me while my mind drifted back to Emma in her hospital room.”
― Andy Marr, Hunger for Life