But the reality is we often become our kindest, most ethical selves only by seeing what it feels like to be a selfish jackass first.

She tried to think of what to say to make it all better again, or at least the way it was before she'd made her confession, though she didn't regret having confessed. Perhaps that was what had been wrong with her all along. Now that the lie wasn't between them anymore, maybe she could love him again.

The universe, I’d learned, was never, ever kidding.

You will come to know things that can only be known with the wisdom of age and the grace of years. Most of those things will have to do with forgiveness.

The people who don’t give up are the people who find a way to believe in abundance rather than scarcity.

Every time I read Erin Belieu work I'm pierced in that wonderful way poetry can.

I think being a woman alone enhanced the impulse in others to be generous. What we're told is that to be a woman alone is to be in a dangerous situation. The message is that people are gong to prey on you and do bad things to you. That may be true in some cases, but what I experienced was the other case.