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21 " You get one life, and it only goes forward. And there really are all kinds of happy endings. "
― Katherine Center , How to Walk Away
22 " We don’t fix everything, but we sure do make things better. "
23 " The greater our capacity for sorry becomes, the greater our capacity for joy. "
24 " Qualifications,” he said, “pale in the face of confidence. "
25 " We're just going to have to wait for-" Then she saw us, and looked Ian over, in his flannel shirt and jeans. "The Brawny paper-towel guy. "
26 " When things got tough, I went for a run. I ran in the rain. I ran at night sometimes—or at four in the morning. "
27 " So much of life is just grinding through. So many moments just exist to deliver you to the ones that follow. But this moment was a destination in itself. "
28 " When you don’t know what to do for yourself, do something for someone else. "
29 " ...there really are all kinds of happy endings. "
30 " We had both moved on. We could both be okay at the same time. We weren't on a seesaw, for Pete's sake! There was plenty of okay to go around. "
31 " I have a theory that we are at our meanest when we feel threatened. People really seem to do their worst when they think you’re out to hurt them, or steal from them, or take something that’s rightfully theirs. "
32 " She always said, ‘When you don’t know what to do for yourself, do something for someone else. "
33 " You know what?” my dad said, reading us perfectly, “I think our girl needs some rest.” He’d been with my mom for thirty years. He was an expert on damage control. "
34 " Then he bent down in front of me and met my eyes for the first time all day. He looked straight into my pupils until he had my full attention. Then he said, “Whether you walk again or not, I’m going to tell you the one thing I know for certain.” I blinked. “What’s that?” He took a deep breath. “It’s the trying that heals you. That’s all you have to do. Just try. "
35 " Yes! You’re going to be okay. Aren’t you glad to know that?” “Undecided.” Then, as she came in for a final hug, she said, “I just need you to remember that, okay?” She squeezed a little tighter. “There are all kinds of happy endings. "
36 " That’s the thing you don’t know—that you can’t know until life has genuinely beaten the crap out of you: I am better for it all. I am better for being broken. "
37 " I still found human beings—and conversation—to be the best possible distraction. "
38 " Wasn’t that what love was, after all? Saying yes—not just when it was easy, but also when it was hard? "
39 " I would never tell you that the life you wanted couldn’t have been exactly as great as you planned. But you have to live the life you have. You have to find inspiration in the struggle, and pull joy out of the hardship. "
40 " Exhaustion is a friend to the grieving. I was the kind of tired where sleep just reaches out and tugs you into its gentle sea without you ever making a choice. "