Claire Bidwell Smith Quotes

Her death leaves me both depleted and emboldened. That's what tragedy does to you, I am learning. The sadness and wild freedom of it all impart a strange durability. I feel weathered and detached, tucking my head against the winds and trudging forward into life.

The world is a much bigger place than Bruner middle school. Those kids who make you feel bad? They're never going to know that. They'll grow up here, stay here, get married here, and have kids here. They'll never find out anything more than the petty grievances they're learning to inflict now.

But you, kiddo? You have bigger fishes to fry. I predict great things for you.

I realize in this moment that all my life I've felt that I deserve to be punished, for wanting so much, for taking so much from this world, from the people who love me.

...the only thing really worth doing in this life is giving love to everyone around you.

When I lost my mother, I also lost the reflection of myself that she showed me on a daily basis, a reflection of a young woman who was loved and cared about and wanted. Even the most important accomplishments of my lifetime have felt slightly hollow in her absence. Without the person who brought me into this world, I have struggled to feel like I am worthy of having a place in it.

I am silent, marveling at the power we have to unlock a person.