Melrose

“It was completely illogical: as if part of me wanted him back, and part of me wanted him to disappear, and nothing in between would do. Or: I wanted my husband back, and I wanted the stranger he'd become to disappear.”
― Maggie Smith, You Could Make This Place Beautiful

“Was this my proudest moment? No. I was not my best self that night. I gave all the fucks, I thought. Why was I the one giving all the fucks? Where were his fucks?”
― Maggie Smith, You Could Make This Place Beautiful

“The thing about birds: If we knew nothing of jays or wrens or sparrows, we'd believe the trees were singing, as if each tree has its own song.
The thing about this life: If we knew nothing of what was missing, what has been removed, it would look full and beautiful.”
― Maggie Smith, You Could Make This Place Beautiful

“What if resting, all by itself, is the real act of holiness? What if honoring the gift of
our only life in this gorgeous world means taking time every week to slow down? To sleep? To breathe? The natural world has never
needed us more than it needs us now, but we can’t be of much use to it if we remain in a perpetual state of exhaustion and despair.”
― Margaret Renkl, The Comfort of Crows: A Backyard Year