All you could do was take on as much weight as you can bear. And if you're lucky, there's someone close enough by to shoulder the rest.

There comes a point when things are undeniable and can't be hidden any longer. Even from yourself.

What is family? They were the people who claimed you. In good, in bad, in parts or in whole, they were the ones who showed up, who stayed there, regardless.

The silence wasn't like the ones I'd known lately, though: it wasn't empty as much as chosen. There's a entirely different feel to quiet when you're with some-one else, and at any moment it could be broken. Like the difference between a pause and an ending.

but accepting help doesn‟t have to mean giving up control.

call it chicken salad

Like a word on a page that you’ve printed and read a million times, that suddenly looks strange or wrong, foreign. And you feel scared for a second, like you’ve lost something, even if you’re not sure what it is.