01c. 1972 ADAs everyone applauds and sips champagne, I smile back at Rachel, thinking she got it just right. Love and friendship. They are what makes us who we are and what can change us, if we let them.Emily Giffin / quote ↗
02c. 1972 ADIt occurs to me that she is not unique--that all women compare lives. We are aware of whose husband works more, who helps more around the house, who makes more money, who is having more sex. We compare our children, taking note of who is sleeping through the night, eating their vegetables, minding their manners, getting into the right schools. We know who keeps the best house, throws the best parties, cooks the best meals, has the best tennis game. We know who among us is the smartest, has the fewest lines around her eyes, has the best figure--whether naturally or artificially. We are aware of who works full-time, who stays at home with the kids, who manages to do it all and make it look easy, who shops and lunches while the nanny does it all. We digest it all and then discuss with our friends. Comparing and then confiding; it is what women do.The difference, I think, lies in why we do it. Are we doing it to gauge our own life and reassure ourselves that we fall within the realm of normal? Or are we being competitive, relishing others' shortcomings so that we can win, if only by default?Emily Giffin / quote ↗
03c. 1972 ADWhy do I need to have reasons? When someone decides to have a baby, people don't go around asking what her reasons are.Emily Giffin / quote ↗
04c. 1972 ADI nod, thinking of how difficult marriage can be, how much effort is required to sustain a feeling between two people - a feeling that you can't imagine will ever fade in the beginning when everything comes so easily. I think of how each person in a marriage owes it to the other to find individual happiness, even in a shared life. That is the only real way to grow together, instead of apart.Emily Giffin / quote ↗
05c. 1972 ADI had seen the light, come to believe that a wedding should be about a feeling between two people, not a show for the masses...It was a magical, romantic evening, and although I occasionally wish I had worn a slightly fancier dress, and that Nick and I had danced on our wedding night, I have no real regrets about the way we chose to do things.Emily Giffin / quote ↗
06c. 1972 ADThe mind-blowing, ridiculous sex which was the stuff of both poetry and porn - so unlike anything else I had ever experienced before.Emily Giffin / quote ↗
07c. 1972 ADMy work has often been described as “chick lit” and for the most part the term doesn’t bother me. I think it simply signals to readers that the book is about women, written for women (although many men enjoy my books), about issues that concern women (relationships, careers, etc.) The only thing that bothers me is when the label is used disparagingly, to imply that all chick lit is, by definition, superficial, beach-read fluff because I believe that this is akin to saying that all women are devoid of substance and the issues that concern us, are fundamentally trivial ones. And I take issue with that.Emily Giffin / quote ↗
08c. 1972 ADa bit of a dirty fighter, quick with cutting words that he later regrets and doesn't really mean. Then again, I wonder if there isn't always a grain of truth in them, somewhereEmily Giffin / quote ↗
09c. 1972 ADBeing married cuts on your freedom. Having a husband or a relationship at all puts constraints on you. by Michael.Emily Giffin / quote ↗
10c. 1972 ADBuried beneath disappointment and fear, anger and pride, I just might find it in my heart to forgive.Emily Giffin / quote ↗
11c. 1972 ADNo second chances. It's not so much about morality, but about my inability to forgive. I am a champion grudge holder, and I don't think I could change this about myself even if I wanted to.Emily Giffin / quote ↗
12c. 1972 ADIt was about grace, she decides, something that has been missing from her own life. ... She wants to be the kind of person who can bestow unearned kindness on another, replace bitterness with empathy, forgive only for the sake of forgiving.Emily Giffin / quote ↗
13c. 1972 AD...recognizing that there is more heartbreak in continuous disappointment than a void...Emily Giffin / quote ↗
14c. 1972 ADIn days that follow, I discover that anger is easier to handle than grief.Emily Giffin / quote ↗
15c. 1972 ADEven if we no longer have much in common, we would have always had the past, which, in some ways, is just as important as the present or future. It is where we come from, what makes us who we are.Emily Giffin / quote ↗
16c. 1972 ADAlthough I'm sure there are plenty of tall, gorgeous, life-of-the-party guys who are also true to their wives, I happen to believe that a disproportionate number of them are cheaters.Emily Giffin / quote ↗
17c. 1972 ADI know that the problem isn't the dream per se. It was the way I felt afterward, once awake.Emily Giffin / quote ↗
18c. 1972 ADhis unwavering confidence - but now, it feels like a brand of indifferenceEmily Giffin / quote ↗
19c. 1972 ADSo there the two of us were. Frozen in time, living in the moment, focused only on our immediate desires. Which of course included sex. Lots and lots of it.Emily Giffin / quote ↗
20c. 1972 ADSorrow comes with so many defense mechanisms. You have your shock, your denial, your getting wasted, your cracking jokes, and your religion. You also have the old standby catchall--the blind belief in fate, the whole "things happening for a reason" drill.But my personal favorite defense has always been anger, with its trusty offshoots of self-righteous indignation, bitterness, and resentment.Emily Giffin / quote ↗
21c. 1972 ADSongs and smells will bring you back to a moment in time more than anything else. It's amazing how much can be conjured with a few notes of a song or a solitary whiff of a room. A song you didn't even pay attention to at the time, a place that you didn't even know had a particular smell.Emily Giffin / quote ↗
22c. 1972 ADSongs and smells will bring you back to a moment in time more than anything else. It's amazing how much can be conjured with a few notes of a song or a solitary whiff of a room.Emily Giffin / quote ↗
23c. 1972 ADBut certainly not everyday you can find someone who wants to have a monogamous relationshipEmily Giffin / quote ↗
24c. 1972 ADLove, not as a surge of passion, but as a choice to commit to something, someone, no matter what obstacles or temptations stand in the way. And maybe making that choice, again and again, day in and day out, year after year, says more about love than never having a choice to make at all.Emily Giffin / quote ↗
