Katherine

“I, Cleo Wilder, do take myself, Cleo Wilder, to be my strongest advocate and my most loyal friend, my loudest cheerleader, and my most trusted confidante.” I pause and gaze out to sea, my palms resting on my knees, my hair swirling around my shoulders in the wind. I acknowledge I haven’t always been my own best friend, and I certainly haven’t always been my own strongest advocate. I’ve lingered too long in toxic relationships, and I’ve told myself to put up with things I’d tell a friend not to tolerate. “I promise to listen to myself, to take the time to hear the voice in my gut, because I know myself better than anyone and I always have my own best interests at heart. I’m wise enough to know when someone is disingenuous, and I know when enough is enough. I also know that I am enough, and I’m brave, and I will succeed. I won’t judge myself too harshly when I get things wrong, because everyone gets things wrong sometimes, but I won’t let myself off the hook without learning lessons either.”
― Josie Silver, One Night on the Island

“And for a little while, he made me feel as if I'd swallowed stars.”
― Josie Silver, One Night on the Island

“My therapist explained that depression was a cunning beast, and it could sneak up on you slowly. It didn’t always happen like you might see it portrayed in media: visible despair, days in bed, withdrawing from life. There was a kind of depression that couldn’t stop moving or working. That got up every day and wore a big smile so the ones the person loved didn’t worry. The depression that needed more and more until it became intolerable, like being force-fed something you could no longer keep down. And in that moment, the person didn’t want to die—they just wanted to feel nothing.”
― Lucinda Berry, One of Our Own

“There is always one person who gets under our skin, who knows our weak spots and neuroses and can’t help but go in for the kill. They are the people who wound us the most, because we care so much about what they think. For my mother, that person was PopPop. For me, that person is my mother.”
― Selma Blair, Mean Baby: A Memoir of Growing Up