People like to think the younger generation's job is to steer the world to hell. But it's never true, is it? They're hopeful and good - and that's how it should be.
Elizabeth StroutMy first job was when I was about 12, cleaning houses in the afternoons for different elderly women in town. I hated it.
Elizabeth StroutHe would not let her go. Even though, staring into her open eyes in the swirling salt-filled water, with sun flashing though each wave, he thought he would like this moment to be forever: the dark-haired woman on shore calling for their safety, the girl who had once jumped rope like a queen, now holding him with a fierceness that matched the power of the oceanโoh, insane, ludicrous, unknowable world! Look how she wanted to live, look how she wanted to hold on.
Elizabeth Strout