Cristie

“Maisie’s phone rings. The house rule is no phones at the table but we’ve made an exception for Maisie who keeps getting calls from neighbors asking for help, and we made an exception for Emily so that Benny can text her and tell her what time he’ll be back at the house, and so of course we extended the exception to Nell, because why would we let her sisters answer their phones at the table and make her turn hers off? Joe and I turn off our phones because everyone we want to talk to is here”
― Ann Patchett, Tom Lake

“There is no explaining this simple truth about life: you will forget much of it. The painful things you were certain you’d never be able to let go? Now you’re not entirely sure when they happened, while the thrilling parts, the heart-stopping joys, splintered and scattered and became something else. Memories are then replaced by different joys and larger sorrows, and unbelievably, those things get knocked aside as well,”
― Ann Patchett, Tom Lake

“A stranger recently told me that she didn’t want to waste any time feeling sad. She just wanted to live as much life as possible. And I think that’s as good a measure as any.”
― Nikki Erlick, The Measure

“The quality of your life depends quite a bit on the quality of attention you project out onto the world.”
― David Brooks, How to Know a Person: The Art of Seeing Others Deeply and Being Deeply Seen