Dena seemed about to respond, but instead, she belched again, a smaller belch that seemed unequal as a harbinger to the monstrous chunky gush that erupted from inside her. I held her hair back and looked away as she finished retching. Working with children had made me less squeamish--they were constantly presenting their grubby hands to your, having accidents--but at some point, disgusting was still disgusting, Especially with an adult woman.
Curtis Sittenfeld American Wife
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Dena hesitated to reply but instead emitted another small belch, which led to a larger and more unpleasant episode of vomiting. I instinctively held back her hair while diverting my gaze, unable to watch her struggle. My experience with children had somewhat hardened me to bodily functions, as I frequently dealt with their messes. However, the sight of an adult woman in such a state still left me feeling unsettled.

The contrast between handling children's accidents and witnessing an adult's distress highlights the limits of my tolerance for gross situations. While I had learned to manage the chaos that comes with caring for kids, I found that some scenarios, especially involving adults, still challenged my comfort level. The moment served as a reminder of how certain expectations of maturity and cleanliness can be easily overturned by unexpected physical reactions.

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American Wife
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Other quotes in American Wife

reason to do anything other than bypass and ignore. And
Curtis Sittenfeld American Wife
reason to do anything other than bypass and ignore. And
People to whom a terrible thing has never happened trust fate, the notion that what's meant to be, will be. The rest of us know better.
Curtis Sittenfeld American Wife
People to whom a terrible thing has never happened trust fate, the notion that what's meant to be, will be. The rest of us know better.
I've never tried to assert my views unless they are self-evident, not reliant on an argument from me to prove or disprove them: Breast-cancer awareness and AIDS prevention are good. Illiteracy is bad. Historic preservation will allow future generations to understand what life used to be like and in so doing will help Americans chart a path forward. The issues and decisions that are more complex I have left to others, to those confident of their own rightness.
Curtis Sittenfeld American Wife
I've never tried to assert my views unless they are self-evident, not reliant on an argument from me to prove or disprove them: Breast-cancer awareness and AIDS prevention are good. Illiteracy is bad. Historic preservation will allow future generations to understand what life used to be like and in so doing will help Americans chart a path forward. The issues and decisions that are more complex I have left to others, to those confident of their own rightness.
Dispatches and warnings from this side of the fame fence tend to go ignored, dismissed as either whining or false modesty; if they weren't ignored, if people listened, no one would ever again seek attention. But they always do, they strive and strive, hoping one day they, too, will have the luxury of lamenting their high profile.
Curtis Sittenfeld American Wife
Dispatches and warnings from this side of the fame fence tend to go ignored, dismissed as either whining or false modesty; if they weren't ignored, if people listened, no one would ever again seek attention. But they always do, they strive and strive, hoping one day they, too, will have the luxury of lamenting their high profile.
She was the reason I was a reader, and being a reader was what had made me most myself; it had given me the gifts of curiosity and sympathy, an awareness of the world as an odd and vibrant and contradictory place, and it had made me unafraid of its oddness and vibrancy and contradictions.
Curtis Sittenfeld American Wife
She was the reason I was a reader, and being a reader was what had made me most myself; it had given me the gifts of curiosity and sympathy, an awareness of the world as an odd and vibrant and contradictory place, and it had made me unafraid of its oddness and vibrancy and contradictions.
{as a single woman in my early thirties, I was careful not to coo excessively over other people's infants, lest it seem like I was telegraphing my desperation; the necessity of this precaution annoyed me, making me want to defiantly announce that I'd always liked babies
Curtis Sittenfeld American Wife
{as a single woman in my early thirties, I was careful not to coo excessively over other people's infants, lest it seem like I was telegraphing my desperation; the necessity of this precaution annoyed me, making me want to defiantly announce that I'd always liked babies
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All the things you can talk about in anyone's work are the things that are least important.
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All the things you can talk about in anyone's work are the things that are least important.
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Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Dear Ijeawele, or A...
{...} what I wish for Chizalum is the following: that she is full of opinions, and that her opinions stem from a well-informed, humane, and open mind. That she have health and happiness. That she have the life she wants to have.
«In memory of the countless men and women of all creeds, nations, and races who fell victim to the fascist and communist belief in the Inexorable Laws of Historical Destiny.»
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Relationships and marriages are hard enough, but you add war into the mix and small fissures become gaping wounds. No one sees what you're seeing - again that clear-eyed, unbiased thing - except your fellow soldiers. It's like one of those movies where only the hero can see the ghosts and everyone else thinks the hero is crazy.
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Relationships and marriages are hard enough, but you add war into the mix and small fissures become gaping wounds. No one sees what you're seeing - again that clear-eyed, unbiased thing - except your fellow soldiers. It's like one of those movies where only the hero can see the ghosts and everyone else thinks the hero is crazy.
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