“ Cycles exist because they are excruciating to break. It takes an astronomical amount of pain and courage to disrupt a familiar pattern. Sometimes it seems easier to just keep running in the same familiar circles, rather than facing the fear of jumping and possibly not landing on your feet.
My mother went through it.
I went through it.
I’ll be damned if I allow my daughter to go through it.
I kiss her on the forehead and make her a promise. “It stops here. With me and you. It ends with us. "
“You could have fifty ex-husbands who try to make our lives hell, but as long as I have you, I will be absolutely unaffected by anyone else’s negativity. That’s a promise.”
“Progress takes time. Don’t feel down. You might not be where you want to be, but you’re also not where you were yesterday. Each day is a baby step. You just keep looking forward and taking them, and I promise one day you’re going to look back and be surprised how far those tiny little steps have taken you."
"It wasn't that long ago that I saw you in my church, willing to promise me almost anything to make the pain stop. Was that a lie? Or have you already forgotten the way heartbreak rips apart the soul piece by piece, how it turns you into a masochist, making you long for the thing that just eviscerated you until there's nothing left of you to be destroyed?"
"Oh, man. Neil, you clean up good. Can I say that, or is that
against the rules? Just—damn. Aaron, don't let me get too drunk
tonight."
Andrew stopped by Nicky long enough to pull a pack of
cigarettes out of his pocket. He lit one, never mind that the
dormitory rooms came equipped with smoke detectors, and put
his lighter in Nicky's face.
"Don't make me kill you," Andrew said.
Nicky held up his hands in self-defense. "I know."
"Do you?"
"Promise," Nicky said weakly.
And when Darl was born I asked Anse to promise to take me back to Jefferson when I died, because I knew that father had been right, even when he couldn’t have known he was right any more than I could have known I was wrong.
"I promise to hold you and keep you safe, to support you and guide you, to be honest and open with you. You have trusted me to tend to your happiness, health, and well-being. I will never break that trust.”
“Promise me something, Amara. If I ever lose my way, lose my soul to this place and become toxic to you or our children, promise me that you’ll end me.”
“Dante—”
“Promise me.”
“You won’t. I won’t let you.”