What had I expected of the first child? Everything. Rocket scientist. Neurosurgeon. Designated hitter. We talked wisely at cocktail parties about the sad mistake our mothers had made in pinning all their hopes and dreams on us. We were full of it.

I can't think of a single downside to motherhood now.

Sometimes I remind myself that I almost skipped the party, that I almost went to a different college, that the whim of a minute could have changed everything and everyone. Our lives, so settled, so specific, are built on happenstance.

I'm very optimistic. I think if you would describe me, my pretty consistent affect is that I'm a pretty happy person.

Guilt is what separates humans from animals.

We don't do ambivalence well in America. We do courage of our convictions. We do might makes right. Ambivalence is French. Certainty is American.

I hope readers will do what I do when I read a novel I like: talk in ways that will illuminate their own lives.