My mother was a not-too-devoted atheist. She went to Episcopal church on Christmas Eve every year, and that was mostly it.

... one of the immutable laws of being human is that the people who show up are the right people. [p. 65]

Every woman's path is difficult, and many mothers were as equipped to raise children as wire monkey mothers. I say that without judgment: It is, sadly, true. An unhealthy mother's love is withering.

I understood that the man I was calling for could never ever come back. Because I understood that the man that I was calling for was dead.

Sometimes grace works like water wings when you feel you are sinking.

Sometimes Heaven is just a new pair of glasses.

I've always thought I could use my brain and my heart to jockey everyone around to the good. But life is not jockeyable. When you try, you make people infinitely crazier than they already were, including or especially yourself.