Valentine

“Some of us never jumped to the next level. We lost track of where we were headed and as a result stayed where we started.”
― André Aciman, Find Me

“As a French poet once said, some people smoke to put nicotine in their veins, others to put a cloud between them and others”
― André Aciman, Find Me

“Take Responsibility Don’t rely on others to make your life better. You may seem like a puzzle piece that fits nicely into their plans at one point, but what happens if they change their minds? So be it. You have a mind to lead you by logic and a heart to lead you by reason. You choose your fate by taking responsibility and by taking the lead in your life. Don’t make yourself part of others’ plans. Make your own plan and be part of it.”
― Najwa Zebian, Mind Platter

“I never told you that, Dad, but I was drunk out of my mind one night, I had just vomited in front of the statue of the Pasquino and couldn't have been more dazed in my life yet here as I leaned against this very wall, I knew, drunk as I was, that this, with Oliver holding me, was my life, that everything that had come beforehand with others was not even a rough sketch or the shadow of a draft of what was happening to me. And now, ten years later, when I look at this wall under this old streetlamp, I am back with him and I swear to you, nothing has changed. In thirty, forty, fifty years I will feel no differently. I have met many women and more men in my life, but what is watermarked on this very wall overshadows everyone I've known. When I come to be here, I can be alone or with people, with you for instance, but I am always with him. If I stood for an hour staring at this wall, I'd be with him for an hour. If I spoke to this wall, it would speak back."
"What would it say?" asked Miranda, totally taken in by the thought of Elio and the wall.
"What would it say? Simple: 'Look for me, find me.'"
"And what do you say?"
"I say the same thing. 'Look for me, find me.' And we were both happy. Now you know.”
― André Aciman, Find Me