Effie

“But I must admit I miss you terribly. The world is too quiet without you nearby.”
― Lemony Snicket, The Beatrice Letters

“It is possible to commit no mistakes and still lose. That is not weakness, that is life.”
― Patrick Stewart

“If you cut open my chest'—Andrew's voice was wrecked—'you'll find a garden of rot where my heart should be.”
― C.G. Drews, Don't Let the Forest In

“In a traditional Anishinaabe economy, the land is the source of all goods and services, which are distributed in a kind of gift exchange: one life is given in support of another. The focus is on supporting the good of the people, not only an individual. Receiving a gift from the land is coupled to attached responsibilities of sharing, respect, reciprocity, and gratitude—of which you will be reminded. This kind of gratitude is so much more than a polite “thank you.” Not an automatic ritual of “manners,” but a recognition of indebtedness that can stop you in your tracks—it brings you the realization that your life is nurtured from the body of Mother Earth. With my fingers sticky with berry juice, I’m reminded that my life is contingent upon the lives of others, without whom, I simply would not exist. Water is life, food is life, soil is life—and they become our lives through the paired miracles of photosynthesis and respiration. All that we need to live flows through the land. It is not an empty metaphor that we call her Mother Earth. Food in our mouths is the thread that connects us in a relationship simultaneously spiritual and physical, as our bodies get fed and our spirits nourished by a sense of belonging, which is the most vital of foods. I have no claim to these berries, and yet here they are in my bucket, a gift.”
― Robin Wall Kimmerer, The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World