And if you could make a choice, then why not pick happiness? Deb Caletti More Quotes by Deb Caletti More Quotes From Deb Caletti ... But then again, a person could turn ugly. Their actual look could change when their actions were repulsive. Deb Caletti ugly action looks But, dear God, don't listen to me. I'm an old lady in the middle of nowhere without a real toilet. Deb Caletti middle-of-nowhere toilets real When you raise an animal, you live it like your own child. Deb Caletti raises animal children You could care enough to keep a secret, but you could care enough to tell one, too. Deb Caletti care enough secret Another person is, at the heart of it, unknowable. And if you cannot know a person enough to always guess what they’re capable of, you certainly cannot know them enough to hold them in your hands, to control their behavior, to fight, manipulate, cajole or nurse or soothe them into doing what they should or shouldn’t. People will do what they will do. The trick is admitting your own helplessness about that little fact. Deb Caletti fighting heart hands Sometimes you build up these walls, you build and you build and you build up these walls and you think they’re so strong, but then someone can come along and tip them over with only his fingers, or the weight of his breath. Deb Caletti wall strong thinking But an apology too — you think you’re giving something, but you’re not. You’re really asking for something. You’re asking for forgiveness, you’re asking for the other injured person to make it okay for you. Apologies were harder work for the person getting one than the person giving one. Deb Caletti apology giving thinking You were a stone wall, a fort in high, unreachable trees, an island, my own island, that no boat could reach. Deb Caletti wall islands tree A person could leave you so quickly. So much history and time and memories, but they snuck away from you, and other things took their place. How could you hold on? Wait. A bigger question. The biggest. How could you hold on and let go? Deb Caletti waiting letting-go memories Maybe sometimes you just feel like everything can be taken from you all at once. Deb Caletti taken feels sometimes Beaches, music, and car rides—they could all bring on a sudden bout of deep, dreamy thoughts. Deb Caletti dreamy car beach Love." She looked at me with those blue eyes. "Isn't it astonishing how confused and complicated such a small,simple word is? It attracts so many other things, doesn't it, that stick to it like barnacles on rock...fear, guilt. Need. You can't even see the rock anymore. I imagine love in its purest form is a rare thing. Deb Caletti confused eye simple Fear was the biggest bullshitter, he’d said. But sometimes, too, fear told the truth. Deb Caletti said sometimes Onyx is angry," Damian says. "Onyx has a right to be angry. You've got to remember, for many elephants, their life is that of a human in a war-torn country. Ravaged homes, killed relatives, separation," Damian says. Here's another thing I've learned over two months--every elephants here has a sad story. Every captive elephant's story is one of loss and separation. Something to remember every time you see happy people getting elephant rides. Deb Caletti home war country A dog — a dog teaches us so much about love. Wordless, imperfect love; love that is constant, love that is simple goodness, love that forgives not only bad singing and embarrassments, but misunderstandings and harsh words. Love that sits and stays and stays and stays, until it finally becomes its own forever. Love, stronger than death. A dog is a four-legged reminder that love comes and time passes and then your heart breaks. Deb Caletti simple dog heart This is not to say I don’t feel my own grief, which can hit powerfully at unexpected times. It’s just that the telling does not automatically bring on my own upset, as people assume. I deal more with their reaction than they do with mine, and so you have to choose your timing. Deb Caletti upset grief people There are so many different fifteens. And eighteens. And forty-twos, for that matter. Mature fifteens and young fifteens and wise fifteens and lost fifteens. And angry fifteens. Deb Caletti different matter wise What’s that about? Love must be more about power than we think, if even in its most intimate moment of expression we think about not being the one who risks the most. Deb Caletti intimate-moments expression thinking The hurt affects your ability to go forward. Deb Caletti ability hurt You … You had always made the future feel safe. As long as you were in it too, beside me, I could be okay. Deb Caletti safe made long