“some believe lily of the valley brings a return of happiness.” — Vanessa Diffenbaugh Flower Copy Share Image
Perhaps the unattached, the unwanted, the unloved, could grow to give love as lushly as anyone else. — Vanessa Diffenbaugh Giving Copy Share Image
“The language of flowers is nonnegotiable, Victoria,” Elizabeth said,” — Vanessa Diffenbaugh Flower Copy Share Image
“There was only one way to the other side, and that was through the pain.” — Vanessa Diffenbaugh Pain Copy Share Image
“We replanted. The loss was substantial, but it was overshadowed completely by losing you.” — Vanessa Diffenbaugh Copy Share Image
“In that moment, we were the same, each of us destroyed by our limited understanding of reality.” — Vanessa Diffenbaugh Copy Share Image
“I would learn to love her like a mother loves a daughter, imperfectly and with out roots.” — Vanessa Diffenbaugh Children Copy Share Image
“I still look up sometimes when I cross the front of the house, expecting to see her.” — Vanessa Diffenbaugh Copy Share Image
“Do you really think you’re the only human being alive who is unforgivably flawed? Who’s been hurt almost to the point of… — Vanessa Diffenbaugh Copy Share Image
“Common thistle is everywhere,” she said. “Which is perhaps why human beings are so relentlessly unkind to one another.” — Vanessa Diffenbaugh Thistle Copy Share Image
“This time, there was no escape, I could not turn away, could not leave without accepting what I had done. There was… — Vanessa Diffenbaugh Acceptance-of-oneself Copy Share Image
“Restammo a luogo aggrappati l'uno all'altra come se stessimo affogando, ma senza cercare la riva, in silenzio, respirando a malapena.” — Vanessa Diffenbaugh Amor Copy Share Image
“Now, as an adult, my hopes for the future were simple: I wanted to be alone, and to be surrounded by flowers.… — Vanessa Diffenbaugh Adulthood Copy Share Image
“Over time, we would learn each other and I would learn to love her like a mother loves a daughter, imperfectly and… — Vanessa Diffenbaugh Children Copy Share Image
“Meredith Combs, the social worker responsible for selecting the stream of adoptive families that gave me back, wanted to talk to me… — Vanessa Diffenbaugh Copy Share Image
“I had been loyal to nothing except the language of flowers. If I started lying about it, there would be nothing in… — Vanessa Diffenbaugh Life Copy Share Image
“I was unaccustomed to men in general, having spent my adolescence in all-female group homes with only an occasional male therapist or… — Vanessa Diffenbaugh Love Copy Share Image
“So, what’s your secret?” Renata asked. I squinted my eyes in question, tightened my shoulders. “To staying thin?” she asked. “When you… — Vanessa Diffenbaugh Eating Copy Share Image
“As she looked me up and down, I felt like a daughter returning from summer camp to a mother who had worried… — Vanessa Diffenbaugh Copy Share Image
“I pinched tendrils of periwinkle at the roots until they hung in long, limp strands, and grabbed a dozen bright white spider… — Vanessa Diffenbaugh Copy Share Image
“I studied the way the individual flowers clustered around the single stalk, their sharp points fitting together like pieces of a puzzle.… — Vanessa Diffenbaugh Fitting together Copy Share Image
If it was true that moss did not have roots, and maternal love could grow spontaneously, as if from nothing, perhaps I… — Vanessa Diffenbaugh Copy Share Image
“It wasn't as if the flowers themselves held within them the ability to bring an abstract definition into physical reality. Instead, it… — Vanessa Diffenbaugh Change Copy Share Image
“The first page held a picture of a hazel blossom that Catherine had drawn. It had been pulled from its file, laminated… — Vanessa Diffenbaugh Copy Share Image
“When my hunger grew to the point of distraction, I climbed onto buses and rode to the Marina, Fillmore Street, or Pacific… — Vanessa Diffenbaugh First blood Copy Share Image
“I could have hired someone else. Someone less flawed, perhaps, or at least better at hiding it. But none of them would… — Vanessa Diffenbaugh Dressing room Copy Share Image
“What're you reading?" "Gertrude Stein." I shook my head. I'd never heard of her. "The poet?" he asked. "You know, 'A rose… — Vanessa Diffenbaugh Flower Copy Share Image
She was perfect. I knew this the moment she emerged from my body, white and wet and wailing. Beyond the requisite ten… — Vanessa Diffenbaugh Body Copy Share Image
“For eight years I dreamed of fire. Trees ignited as I passed them; oceans burned. The sugary smoke settled in my hair… — Vanessa Diffenbaugh Copy Share Image
“The more I read, the more I felt my understanding of the universe slip away from me. Columbine symbolized both 'desertion' and… — Vanessa Diffenbaugh Copy Share Image
“Have you ever given anyone a red rose?" Grant asked. I looked at him as if he was trying to force-feed me… — Vanessa Diffenbaugh Flowers Copy Share Image
“Bowing my head, I dipped my nose into the bouquet I'd assembled. There was flax, and forget-me-not, and hazel. There were white… — Vanessa Diffenbaugh Copy Share Image
“I felt my true, unworthy self to be far away from his clutching grasp, hidden from his admiring gaze.” — Vanessa Diffenbaugh Copy Share Image
“It was there, under the fear, under the avoidance: a love lit with awe, so bright it hurt to look.” — Vanessa Diffenbaugh Fear Copy Share Image
“I believe you can prove everyone wrong, too, Victoria. Your behavior is a choice; it isn't who you are.” — Vanessa Diffenbaugh Choice Copy Share Image
Hate can be passionate or disengaged; it can come from dislike but also from fear. — Vanessa Diffenbaugh Copy Share Image
