“We are all hostages of time. We each have the same number of minutes and hours to live within a day, yet to me it didn't feel equally doled out. My illness brought me such an abundance of time that… — Elisabeth Tova Bailey Copy Share Image
“The snail had been a true mentor; its tiny existence had sustained me. Late one winter night I wrote in my journal: A last… — Elisabeth Tova Bailey Copy Share Image
“It seemed far more reasonable to belong to a species that had evolved natural tooth replacement than to belong to one that had developed… — Elisabeth Tova Bailey Copy Share Image
“Those of us with illnesses are the holders of the silent fears of those with good health.” — Elisabeth Tova Bailey Copy Share Image
“The life of a snail is as full of tasty food, comfortable beds of sorts, and a mix of pleasant and not-so-pleasant adventures as… — Elisabeth Tova Bailey Copy Share Image
“There was no woodsy fragrance blowing through my room, and the snail, especially while it lived in the pot of violets, must have been… — Elisabeth Tova Bailey Copy Share Image
“There is a certain depth of illness that is piercing in its isolation: the only rule of existence is uncertainty, and the only movement is the passage of time. One cannot bear to live through another loss of function, and sometimes friends and family cannot bear to watch. An unspoken, unbridgeable divide may widen. Even if you are still who… — Elisabeth Tova Bailey Copy Share
“Given the ease with which health infuses life with meaning and purpose, it is shocking how swiftly illness steals away those certainties.” — Elisabeth Tova Bailey Copy Share Image
“The crucial first step to survival in all organisms is habitat selection. If you get to the right place, everything else is likely to… — Elisabeth Tova Bailey Copy Share Image
“I liked the sound of the word 'snail' every time I said it; the word was as small and simple as the creature itself.” — Elisabeth Tova Bailey Copy Share Image
“Survival often depends on a specific focus: A relationship, a belief, or a hope balanced on the edge of possibility. Or something more ephemeral:… — Elisabeth Tova Bailey Copy Share Image
“Millions of centuries of voyaging via animals, water, and wind brought my snail's family to colonize the woods near where I was staying. It was by chance that my snail's path had intersected with a human trail, just as a friend - the sort of friend who stopped for a snail - was passing by. The history of gastropod travel… — Elisabeth Tova Bailey Copy Share
“I find that nothing is quite as I remember; in my absence, the world has changed.” — Elisabeth Tova Bailey Copy Share Image
