I've often said that the most important thing you can give your children is wings. Because, you're not gonna always be able to bring food to the nest. You're... sometimes... they're gonna have to be able to fly by themselves.
Elizabeth EdwardsRead
If I had lost a leg, I would tell them, instead of a boy, no one would ever ask me if I was 'over it'. They would ask me how I was doing learning to walk without my leg. I was learning to walk and to breathe and to live without Wade. And what I was learning is that it was never going to be the life I had before.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote highlights the profound changes in life after significant loss and the importance of adapting to a new reality.
Elizabeth Edwards reflects on the deep impact of loss, comparing it to losing a leg, suggesting that people would not expect a person who has experienced such a loss to simply 'get over it'. Instead, they would recognize the ongoing process of learning to navigate life in a new way. The quote emphasizes that loss reshapes existence and that adapting to such transformations is a continuous journey, rather than an end point.
Themes
LossAdaptationGriefLife ChangesResilience
In practice
Example use cases
In a support group for those who have lost loved ones, this quote can be shared to illustrate the ongoing journey of adjustment.
More from Elizabeth Edwards
All quotes →I've had to come to grips with a God that fits my own experience, which is, my God could not be offering protection and not have protected my boy.
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Part of resilience is deciding to make yourself miserable over something that matters, or deciding to make yourself miserable over something that doesn't matter.
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I'm not a victim - I never want to be perceived that way.
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I certainly have a lot to lament, as do we all, everybody has their griefs. But the griefs we can fix, shouldn't we go around fixing them?
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... all things are possible if you are willing to put yourself on the line. You cannot stand back and hope for the best. You have to act.
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