"Les rêves sont comme les vagues, chérie, il faut attendre la bonne, celle qui est faite pour toi. Et quand elle arrive, tu grimpes sur ta planche et tu surfes".
She never understood why people, women especially, assumed that every woman on the planet felt a bone-deep need to clone themselves for posterity. If they knew what she knew, had seen what she'd seen, they'd know there were worse things than being childless - like having a child you weren't equipped to care for and scarring it for life.
At ten, she learned that no address was permanent, at twelve, that no promise was sacred, and at sixteen, that there was no such thing as safe. There were other lessons too. Lessons that were still etched in her mind - and her flesh.
- I didn't know you had a cat.
- I don't. He just showed up last night, reavenous and dripping wet.
- Did you feed him?
- Just some milk and a can of tuna.
- Then you have a cat.
- Do I look that bad?
- Nothing a little caffeine and concealer won't fix.
Parenting rule number one : never wake a sleeping child.
Don't live a smaller life than you deserve.
They can't hurt you unless you let them.