“You have your wonderful memories," people said later, as if memories were solace. Memories are not. Memories are by definition of times past, things gone. Memories are the Westlake uniforms in the closet, the faded and cracked photographs, the invitations to the weddings of the people who are no longer married, the mass cards from the funerals of the people whose faces you no longer remember. Memories are what you no longer want to remember.”
More from Joan Didion
“Remember what it is to be me. That is always the point.”
“The fear is not for what is lost. What is lost is already in the wall. The fear is for…”
“Grief turns out to be a place none of us know until we reach it.”
“We know that someone close to us will die. We might expect to feel shock. We do not expect…”