...most of the time, all you have is the moment, and the imperfect love of the people around you.

One thing I know for sure about raising children is that every single day a kid needs discipline.... But also every single day a kid needs a break.

She felt as if the mosaic she had been assembling out of life's little shards got dumped to the ground, and there was no way to put it back together.

Two things put me in the spirit to give. One is that I have come to think of everyone with whom I come into contast as a patient in the emergency room. I see a lot of gaping wounds and dazed expressions. Or, as Marianne Moore put it, "The world's an orphan's home." And this feels more true than almost anything else I know. But so many of us can be soothed by writing: think of how many times you have opened a book, read one line, and said, "Yes!" And I want to give people that feeling, too, of connection, communication.

My idea of absolute happiness is to be in bed on a rainy day, with my blankie, my cat, and my dog.

The evidence is in, and you are the verdict.

I don't want something special. I want something beautifully plain.