As a fiction writer, that's been a preoccupation of mine: Can you really just close the door and leave the past back there behind you, or is the door going to blow open at some point?

This sadness wasn't a huge part of me--I wasn't remotely depressed--but still, it was like a stone I carried in my pocket. I always knew it was there. [p. 179]

You can start your day over anytime.

I found myself doing so much public speaking, more and more and bigger and bigger.

I had spent my childhood and the better part of my early adulthood trying to understand my mother. She had been an extraordinarily difficult person, spiteful and full of rage, with a temper that could flare, seemingly out of nowhere, scorching everything and everyone who got in its way. [pp. 40-41]

From spiritual connection springs kindness, connection, social activism, and love.

Michael Lowenthal has written a big-hearted and wise book about familial love in all its richness and complexity.