You don’t have a right to the cards you believe you should have been dealt with. You have an obligation to play the hell out of the ones you’re holdi… - Cheryl Strayed

You don't have a right to the cards you believe you should have been dealt. You have an obligation to play the hell out of the ones you're holding.

You don’t have a right to the cards you believe you should have been dealt. You have an obligation to play the hell out of the ones you’re holding.

You don't have a right to the cards you believe you should have been dealt.

You have an obligation to play the hell out of the ones you're holding.

I didn’t feel like a big fat idiot anymore. And I didn’t feel like a hard-ass motherfucking Amazonian queen. I felt fierce and humble and gathered up inside, like I was safe in this world too.

It was only after her death that I realized who she was: the apparently magical force at the center of our family who'd kept us all invisibly spinning in the powerful orbit around her.

"Our minds are small, but our hearts are big. Just about every one of us has fucked up at one point or another. You're in a pickle. You did things you didn't hope to do. You have not always been your best self. This means that you're like the rest of us. I've never been in a humiliating situation when I wasn't shocked by all the "normal" people who were also in the very same humiliating position. Humans are beautifully imperfect and complex. We're horny, ass-saving, ego-driven drug fiends, among other, more noble things."