There is no true life. Your true life is the one you end up with, whatever it may be. You just do the best you can with what you've got.
For my own family, I would always choose the makeshift, surrogate family formed by various characters unrelated by blood.
My family can always tell when I'm well into a novel because the meals get very crummy.
Something was wrong with a world where people came and went so easily.
Try Jesus, you won't regret it, a billboard read.
I just want to be told a story, and I want to believe I'm living that story, and I don't give a thought to influences or method or any other writerly concerns