“I thought I detected a bit of wonder in his voice, that he'd like to become part of a story, any story.” — Catherine Lacey Copy Share Image
“That boy never seemed to smile and he wore long sleeves year-round, and I was not so different from him—we were both… — Catherine Lacey Copy Share Image
“It depressed me to think that I might have been looking at another person but seeing only myself.” — Catherine Lacey Copy Share Image
“I worried that what I had seen in the driver was something I'd seen in myself, that it took me to know… — Catherine Lacey Copy Share Image
“. . . overcast afternoons when it seemed possible the whole world had run out of things to say.” — Catherine Lacey Copy Share Image
“Maybe I will always have to love the idea of love or a concept of God more than I can love a… — Catherine Lacey Copy Share Image
“Speaking felt impossible, as contained and enclosed as she was, a longing that went on a loop, a longing for nothing at… — Catherine Lacey Copy Share Image
“I thought that if I could ever do a background check on myself, I knew exactly what I'd do with it. I… — Catherine Lacey Copy Share Image
“. . . waiting for . . . some kind of kindness or understanding to tell me, Self, it is all fine… — Catherine Lacey Copy Share Image
“Sometimes it seems all I have are questions, that I will ask the same ones all my life. I'm not sure if… — Catherine Lacey Copy Share Image
“But we always avoided talking about these things—difficult things—and I wondered if that meant we'd be a little uncomfortable with or disappointed… — Catherine Lacey Copy Share Image
“I'd run out of options. That's how these things usually happen, how a person ends up placing all her last hopes on… — Catherine Lacey Copy Share Image
“This wasn't a commodifiable realization, the kind of thing in college essays or inspirational books or the hardbound journals of gentle ladies.… — Catherine Lacey Copy Share Image
“I wasn't sure if it was safe for me to be sharing time and space with other people, who all seemed so… — Catherine Lacey Copy Share Image
“I wondered why my husband couldn't have just been all bad. Why couldn't he have been a cartoon villain, someone I could… — Catherine Lacey Copy Share Image
“I barely managed to do the small talk—the what-do-you-do , the where-are-you-from , the what-neighborhood , the what-college , the despair of… — Catherine Lacey Copy Share Image
“I was thinking about stabbing myself in the face—not actually considering stabbing myself in the face, but thinking that it would be… — Catherine Lacey Copy Share Image
“Sex seemed like a thing that might only happen to me at random, outside my control, like the weather.” — Catherine Lacey Copy Share Image
“Though I knew I had the potential to do this locked in me like a poisonous pet snake, I knew I didn't… — Catherine Lacey Copy Share Image
“It was possible she might not have the right feeling after all, that she wasn't in love, wasn't in limerence, but was… — Catherine Lacey Copy Share Image
“ I'm here , I said, but I knew, increasingly, I wasn't here, and I felt that able-to-weep-and-be-seen version of myself that… — Catherine Lacey Copy Share Image
“ Will your dad beat me up if I ask for your number? She wrote it down, smiling, feeling somehow significant and… — Catherine Lacey Copy Share Image
“And I knew that it was possible he wasn't entirely right for me, but I also knew, in some way, that probably… — Catherine Lacey Copy Share Image
“He was looking at me like I was a very nice thing of his that wasn't working quite like it should, like… — Catherine Lacey Copy Share Image
“I hiked up a path and into the woods, thinking about what I should be thinking about and almost having a real… — Catherine Lacey Copy Share Image
“You will never be missing to yourself and all you can do is delay, delay, delay and the delaying must be good… — Catherine Lacey Copy Share Image
