There are a million moving parts to raising kids, and you can't always anticipate them all, especially when they are teenagers and their peers play such a huge role in their lives. If you offer independence, there is one kind of pitfall; if you shelter them too much, there is another. And sometimes you do everything right and something bad just happens. It's as simple, and as scary, as that.
Anna QuindlenWhen you look at the women that have made a real difference in the world throughout history, what theyโve done has almost always been defined by fearlessness. Thatโs something I came to at a certain point; I wish Iโd come to it younger. Stop looking over your shoulder โ thereโs nobody who matters back there.
Anna QuindlenMy home was in a pleasant place outside of Philadelphia. But I really lived, truly lived, somewhere else. I lived within the covers of books.
Anna QuindlenThe one thing that I always got positive reinforcement for from teachers, who really changed my life, was the written word.
Anna QuindlenSomewhere between a third and a quarter of all people living in America today were born between 1946 and 1965 and if you think you're tired of hearing about us, you should try being one of us.
Anna QuindlenIf I waited long enough and said, "Okay, so what you're saying is you liked your life a lot better when you were 30?" everybody would get real quiet and then admit that that wasn't the case, that they really felt like they were sort of growing into themselves in a way.
Anna QuindlenLife is made up of moments, small pieces of glittering mica in a long stretch of gray cement. It would be wonderful if they came to us unsummoned, but particularly in lives as busy as the ones most of us lead now, that wonโt happen. We have to teach ourselves how to make room for them, to love them, and to live, really live.
Anna Quindlen