Why is it you can never hope to describe the emotion Africa creates? You are lifted. Out of whatever pit, unbound from whatever tie, released from whatever fear. You are lifted and you see it all from above.
Francesca MarcianoWhen you leave Africa, as the plane lifts, you feel that more than leaving a continent you're leaving a state of mind. Whatever awaits you at the other end of your journey will be of a different order of existence.
Francesca MarcianoMaybe that's what happens with age, I thought. All your life you force yourself to forget people who have hurt you, but as you get older and weaker their memory surfaces again, like a bubble in the water. You have to surrender, because you feel to tired to fight it and push it down again. And maybe, unexpectedly, you find out that instead, of revamping your anger, those memories produce an unexpected sweetness.
Francesca MarcianoWe knew nothing of loss. Nobody has taught us about pain. Until that moment, death had just amounted to a scary sound.
Francesca MarcianoSuddenly it all seemed luminously clear. Love had very little to do with fear and emotional sabotage; love had to do with trust.
Francesca MarcianoChildren know so little, they must learn quickly to imitate grown-ups whenever they feel unsure in a situation.
Francesca MarcianoA first kiss is the demarcation line: the same information that a moment ago felt private, all of a suddens seems unfair to withhold. And with that exchange came more.
Francesca MarcianoI had fallen out of my secure world, precipitated beyond the territories I had only begun to control so skillfully. What a foolish step to take. What an insane move to make.
Francesca MarcianoWhen people die and especially when they die tragically, others can't help but get carried away. They come up with their implausible interpretation and usually resort to cheap psychology. A sense of fatalism is the only form of relief left.
Francesca Marciano