...Emma Morley wasn't such a paragon either: pretentious, petulant, lazy, speechifying, judgmental. Self-pitying, self righteous, self-important, all the selfs except self-confident, the quality that she had always needed the most.

Be good. Do something good.

There's something unnatural about a woman finding babies or, more specifically, conversation about babies, boring. They'll think she's bitter, jealous, lonely. But she's also bored of everybody telling her how lucky she is, what with all that sleep and all that freedom and spare time, the ability to go on dates or head off to Paris at a moments notice. It sounds like they're consoling her, and she resents this and feels patronized by it.

The future rose up ahead of her, a succession of empty days, each more daunting and unknowable than the one before her.

I'm trying to be inspiring! I'm trying to lift your grubby soul for the great adventure that lies ahead of you!

This isn't a letter, it's a gift.

You can live your whole life not realizing that what you're looking for is right in front of you.