There's nothing quite like a real . . . train conductor to add color to a quotidian commute

Whatever your relationship is to your sacred tradition in the West, you have some relationship to the Bible if only through the names of the characters.

The more a daughter knows the details of her mother's life [...] the stronger the daughter.

Death is no enemy, but the foundation of gratitude, sympathy, and art. Of all life's pleasures, only love owes no debt to death.

One of my great secrets was knowing I had the power to make her smile.

The other reason women wanted daughters was to keep their memories alive.

Why did I not know that birth is the pinnacle where women discover the courage to become mothers?