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61 " To think quick & strike hard, to speak rarely, but when I did, to always be heard. "
― Elizabeth Acevedo , Clap When You Land
62 " Mami still had an air around Papi,like he was a medicine she knew she neededeven as she cringed at the taste. "
63 " We also know exactly what it’s like to look at the other & see all the answers of ourselves there. "
64 " Fight until you can’t breathe, & if you have to forfeit, you forfeit smiling, make them think you let them win while smiling the whole damn time. "
65 " But the best thing about our house is that it’s a three-minute walk from the beach. Which isn’t always lucky when the water rises, but it has saved my life on the many days when I need a reminder the world is bigger than the one I know, & its currents are always moving; "
66 " Tía is a woman woven of miracles; the reason people who are afraid of her & her magic still call for the worst emergencies is because Tiá’s a woman who speaks to the dead, who negotiates with spirits, who loosens their fingers when they clutch around the neck of someone she wants to live "
67 " She & I became tight as freshly laundered jeans. "
68 " A queen offers her hand to be kissed, & can form it into a fist while smiling the whole damn time. "
69 " Can you be from a place you have never been? You can find the island stamped all over me, but what would the island find if I was there? Can you claim a home that does not know you, much less claim you as its own? "
70 " I was an aspiration, a flame he wanted to kiss. But for her, he would have lit the entire island. I was a smart decision. She made a dreamer of him. & well, for the child that came, he sacrificed it all. He loved you both. Understand that. A part of me even thinks he might have loved "
71 " Her eyes fill, but I know she won't cry. She seems likethe kind of girl who can will her eyes to unmake tears. "
72 " Just let yourself mourn sweetie.You can't run from what hurts you.Or like a dog smelling fear,that grief will just keep chasing with ever-sharp teeth. "
73 " As Mami & I sit in the front row, people come up to us to pay their respects. such a funny phrase, pay respects. As if suffering is a debt that can be eased by a hug & a head nod. I have no need for this currency of people's respects. "
74 " I do not know how to say in Spanish: I am a graceful loser. Many times. Many things. I've made mistakes that lost the match. Who were Mami & I playing against? Did God win? Did Papi lose? I know we did. "
75 " I want to tell her some days I wake up to find dents on the inside of my palms from where I've fisted my hands while sleeping, my nails bitting into the skin & leaving angry marks.On the days I wake up with smooth palms I'm angry at myself. There should be too breaks from this grief. Not even in sleep. "
76 " A truth you did not wantto knowcan rot & grow moldin the pitof your stomach,can sourevery tasteyou've ever had,can cast a stenchso bad your forgetyou've ever knowna sweet thing.A truth you did not wantcan put a collar around your neck& lead you into the dark,the places where all yourmonsters live.-Camino "
77 " How does the water learn to readjust around the new object? "
78 " Some things continue forever. Maybe anger is like a river,maybe it crumbles everything around it, maybe it hidesso many skeletons beneath the rolling surface. "
79 " If I say those words,if I snap apart the air with them, whatever is binding me togetherwill split too. "
80 " But the best thing about our houseis that it's a three-minute walk from the beach.Which isn't always lucky when the water rises,but it has saved my life on the many dayswhen I need a reminder the world is biggerthan the one I know, & its currents are always moving;when I need a reminderthere is a life for me beyond the water& that one day I will not be left behind. "