Maybe a first love exists to reaffirm the best parts of yourself, the choices you made when you didn't worry about the consequences. Maybe a first love exists to remind you to be brave in the moment, to stand up for your feelings, instead of shrinking back in the face of potential loneliness.

Having a purpose is the little secret of the nonpretties. Something to do always beats something to look at.

The intimacy. The deepest level of love. The knowledge that someone understands you, is rooting for you, is sharing your life.

When people are filled to the brim with love, they are their most beautiful.

Our faces will become works of art that our grandchildren will treasure.

Food is so important - it sustains us, it provides a social focal point, and it is fun. I cannot unravel the difference between love in my family and the preparation of food because they are so closely woven.

And when you clear away the cobwebs of the description of every job in the world, at the bottom of that job is service. It's service. And I took that ethic and applied it to my writing craft.