Maryam

“Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional.”
― haruki murakami, What I Talk About When I Talk About Running

“يقررون عليه الرحيل. يسحبون الأرضَ من تحت قدميه. ولم تكن الأرضُ بساطاً اشتراه من السوق، فاصل فى ثمنه ثم مد يده إلى جيبه ودفع المطلوب فيه،وعاد يحمله إلى داره وبسطه وتربع عليه فى اغتباط. لم تكن بساطاً بل أرضاً، تراباً زرع فيه عمره وعروق الزيتون. فما الذى يتبقى من العمرِ بعد الاقتلاع؟ .. في المسا يغلقُ باب الدارِ عليه وعلى الحنين.. تأتيه غرناطة.. يقولُ يا غربتي! راحت غرناطة.. يسحبونها من تحت قدميه, ولم تكن بساطاً اشتراهُ من سوق بالنسية الكبير”
― رضوى عاشور, ثلاثية غرناطة

“It is not an easy thing to do, walk away from what you’ve built and save yourself. Destroying Phoebe’s marriage felt like destroying herself. Walking out of the classroom felt like killing the twenty-two-year-old who tried to save her own life by applying to graduate school. It is so much easier to sit in things and wait for something to save us. For the past two years, Phoebe sat in the bad things the way she used to sit in the snow as a child. An hour would go by and it would be very hard for her to get back up. Eventually she looked down at her toes and became confused: Why are they frozen? It was her father who picked her up, said, It’s time to come inside. But now she has to learn when it’s time to come inside. She has to learn to check in with her toes when nobody else is looking. To care for them when no one else will.”
― Alison Espach, The Wedding People