He recalls what that first German soldier said to his major: No God-not yours or mine-approves of what you're doing.

No one said living isn't a pretty chancy business, Sibyl. No one gets out of here alive.

My wife and I would be very comfortable having a baby at home, or using one of the terrific nurse-midwives at the hospital.

My mother used to talk about passages and, once in a while, about ordeals. We all have them; we are all shaped by them. She thought the key was to find the healing in the hurt.

The honest answer is more complex. On some level I was sent. Or inspired. Or called. But my calling, such as it was, wasn't a single booming invitation from above (really, is it ever?).

Dead … might not be quiet at all.

But it's funny how the memory works and how sometimes we just belive whatever we want.