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41 " Home. I come from a place that’s as sweet as the freshest berry, as sour as curdled milk, where we dream of owning mansions and leaving the hood, where we couldn’t imagine having been raised anywhere else. "
― Elizabeth Acevedo , With the Fire on High
42 " I’ve had a lot of things to feel ashamed about and I’ve learned most of them are other people’s problems. Not mine. "
43 " I was that girl your moms warns you about being friends with. And warns you about becoming "
44 " What better way to take a leap of faith than to set something on fire and trust it will not only come out right, but that it will be completely delicious? "
45 " If there was one thing I learned once my belly started showing it’s that you can’t control how people look at you, but you can control how far back you pull your shoulders and how high you lift your chin. "
46 " And maybe because I struggle to learn certain lessons, this one has taken me years and years to learn: You can't make too much space for a father like mine in your life. Because he'll elbow his way in and stretch the corners wide, and when he leaves all you have is the oversized empty--the gap in your heart where a parent should be "
47 " But I also got more than one city, one hood inside me. And anyone who wants to get to know me has to know how to appreciate the multiple skylines. "
48 " But just know, I think you have more to offer the world than you give yourself credit for. "
49 " And sometimes focusing on what you can control is the only way to lessen the pang in your chest when you think about the things you can’t. "
50 " don’t know if we’re going to be fine at all, but I try to remind myself of Mercedes Sosa’s song: Everything changes. I’ll learn to be fine. "
51 " Taking risks and making choices in spite of ear - it's what makes our life story compelling" -Ms. Fuentes "
52 " Buela fiddles with her wedding band before looking at me. “I’m not sick, Emoni. I’ve lied to you. I haven’t had all those doctor’s appointments. I just needed a private afternoon with my thoughts where I’m not in this house. Where I’m Gloria again, and not only ’Buela. I don’t know how to explain it. And I don’t want to talk about it. "
53 " Ah, and that's why it is magic. Not all recipes in life are easily understood or followed or deconstructed. Sometimes you have to take what is given to you and use your talents to brew the best tea possible. "
54 " Can you miss someone you never met? Of course, the answer is yes. "
55 " I think that you should write about the one that scares you most. Taking risks and making choices in spite of fear — it’s what makes our life stories compelling. "
56 " I look out the window at the clouds parting in the same way my bad mood is, sunlight peeking through both. And I know for a fact: there’s more than one kind of magic in this world. "
57 " I don’t know what I’m going to be or who I am not. My own desires are thickly layered like the food on my plate. But I know that one day soon, I’ll be a grown-ass woman. So I let myself enjoy the meal, the moment and my own company. "
58 " I’ve had a lot of things to feel ashamed about and I’ve learned most of them are other people’s problems, not mine "
59 " People say that you’re stuck with the family you’re born into. And for most people, that’s probably true. But we all make choices about people. Who we want to hold close, who we want to remain in our lives, and who we are just fine without. "
60 " And you have no business taking this class when you could have a study hall, and you can't afford this trip either, Emoni. But I don't say anything out loud to Angelica. I just take another bite of my sandwich, close my eyes, and savor, because I can't think of a single way to make my life more how I imagine it, but I can imagine a hundred ways to make this sandwich better. And sometimes focusing on what you can control is the only way to lessen the pang in your chest when you think about the things you can't. "