Quotes From "Even In Paradise" By Chelsey Philpot

The air was swollen with music, shouting, and something I could not quite place- a feeling of happiness, but happiness with an edge, a sense of joy that was all the more meaningful because it was so fleeting. Chelsey Philpot

So self-assured were they all by nature that it never occurred to me to doubt that their perfection was predetermined by forces I did not understand. They were all royalty. They were all gods. They were all broken. Chelsey Philpot

I’m sorry, ’ I whispered. I didn’t know whether I was sympathizing with her broken heart or apologizing for a family who had had theirs broken, too. Chelsey Philpot

Before that night, I didn't grasp that the shadows that sometimes crossed her face weren't momentary clouds passing in front of the sun. Her deep silences were more than daydreams. And her habit of standing with her arms wrapped around her ribs was a way of holding herself together. I didn't get there must be balance. She couldn't hold so much life, light and joy without also containing their opposites. Chelsey Philpot

Even knowing, as I do now, that grace, power, and, yes, love can hide the darkest elements of the human heart, I would do it all again. Chelsey Philpot

Even knowing everything, I would have chosen the same. It's only in hindsight that we can point, as easily as finding a town on a map, to the moments that shaped us, - the moments when choices between yeses and noes determined the people we become. Chelsey Philpot

The hours were long, but the days were short, and as much as I willed it to never come, the end of summer arrived anyway. Chelsey Philpot