Bernice Yap

“If something can be done about the situation, what need is there for dejection? And if nothing can be done about it, what use is there for being dejected?”
― Dalai Lama, The Book of Joy

“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

“I mean, I just lived my life in such a small way... It was too small. I was so convinced there was only one way to live my life.”
― Alison Espach, The Wedding People

“Phoebe didn't think she'd end up being a woman like this. But if the last few years have taught her anything, it's that you really can't ever know who you are going to become.”
― Alison Espach, The Wedding People