The most important thing you leave behind is the stuff that turns into treasures when children find it

I read once that the ancient Egyptians had fifty words for sand & the Eskimos had a hundred words for snow. I wish I had a thousand words for love, but all that comes to mind is the way you move against me while you sleep & there are no words for that.

You're the strangest person I ever met, she said & I said you too & we decided we'd know each other a long time.

There are lives I can imagine without children but none of them have the same laughter & noise.

Time stands still best in moments that look suspiciously like ordinary life.

If there is any secret to this life I live, this is it: the sound of what cannot be seen sings within everything that can & there is nothing more to it than that.

My grandma used to plant tomato seedlings in tin cans from tomato sauce & puree & crushed tomatoes she got from the Italian restaurant by her house, but she always soaked the labels off first. I don't want them to be anxious about the future, she said. It's not healthy.