Home > Author > Camille Pagán
41 " If cancer was a gift, I wanted to return it. I didn’t need a fast-acting tumor to remind me about the fleeting nature of life: "
― Camille Pagán , Life and Other Near-Death Experiences
42 " How I will miss her. I still sometimes question my love for her. Where did it come from, and why did it take me so long to let it go, if I really have at all? All I can do is accept that it has woven itself into the fabric of who I am. I could be wrong, but I suspect that the people we are drawn to are the ones we need most, even if we are never able to fully comprehend why. Maybe in Lou, I saw the possibility of you. Maybe in me, she saw you, too, and that became our fate and future. "
― Camille Pagán , Forever is the Worst Long Time
43 " I know, having myself lost a parent too soon, that being without a father will not be easy for you. But try to remember that loss is an incredible stroke of luck. Yes, luck. For loss caries with it two truths: that you have loved, and hat you yourself have had the good fortune to live a little longer. "
44 " I could be wrong, but I suspect that the people we are drawn to are the ones we need most, even if we are never able to fully comprehend why. "
45 " But something between us had shifted over the course of our marriage, particularly the last two to three years. We had gone from being lovers to best friends to . . . roommates who routinely irritated each other. If I was honest with myself, that was what it felt like most of the time. "
― Camille Pagán , I'm Fine and Neither Are You
46 " But I loved her in spite of these issues, and maybe even more because of them. For the first time, Nora had demonstrated to me that a strong relationship didn't require an absence of strife, that two people could hold opposing viewpoints (whether on toilet paper or public policy) and still be deeply in love and committed to their partnership. "
47 " It's been said that every good parent wants only for his child to be happy. I want happiness for you, but so much more. I want you to not know the pain that awaits you. I want you to roar back at the things that scare you. I want for you a life that is not just happy, but meaningful. But above all, I want you to embrace the love you find yourself drawn to, whatever that may be. I hope this book will show you that if you can find it in you to push past the fear of loving another person - if you can lean to live with the inevitable loss that comes with doing so - you will know a good and meaningful life. "
48 " But why was marriage so much work? It didn’t used to be. And if it did require such effort, shouldn’t the fruit of that labor be a stronger, more satisfying union? "
49 " But try to remember that loss is an incredible stroke of luck. Yes, luck. For loss carries with it two truths: that you have loved, and that you yourself have had the good fortune to live a little longer. "
50 " Above my family, the sun was beaming in the cloudless blue sky. I wondered if Jenny was up there somewhere, or in the air around me, or at least a part of the universe somehow. Wherever she was, I only hoped she knew I had received her parting gift—the ability to look beyond what was missing and be thankful for all that remained. "
51 " And I knew as I reached down to touch her softly, one more time, that anything that happened next in life simply could not be as unbearable as this good-bye. "
52 " Don’t you borrow trouble from tomorrow. Things have always worked out before, so there’s no reason to think this time will be any different. "
― Camille Pagán , Woman Last Seen in Her Thirties
53 " I had not taken particularly good care of myself over the years, and it wasn’t like I could get a free pass by wearing a pin that said, I look like this because I have been caring for everyone else. "
54 " Sometimes, when I was feeling especially blue, I would imagine what it would have been like if I’d been a different age when my mother died. At ten, I was old enough to understand the terrible thing that had happened to us, but too young to have soaked up so many of the details that I, as an adult, longed to know about her and her life. Now the little I did remember was fading with time. "
55 " Your mother’s not gone, Libby. You’ll see her again one day.” I clung to this belief, even as I cursed its complete and utter inability to offer real comfort. I did not want to hear it, even from my own husband. Nor did I want to hear about God having a plan, or all things happening for a reason, or any other number of Hallmark sentiments that pinged against my heart like pebbles on a thin windowpane. "
56 " This isn’t a fight; it’s a tough thing to talk about. There’s a difference. "
57 " The problem was not that I had lost the ability to enjoy things. It was that I had lost myself. "
58 " When something comes to you so easily, it may leave that same way, and you'll be left wondering if it ever was at all. "
59 " She was lovely. And I knew as I reached down to touch her softly, one more time, that anything that happened next in life simply could not be as unbearable as this good-bye. "
60 " I once read that the recipe for a good life had but three ingredients: something to do, someone to love, and something to look forward to. "