Don't be afraid of your dark places. ... If you can shine a light on them, you'll find treasure there.

My life is not just about the past.

Everything in life is gray, you know.

You didn't need a college degree to become one of the people who knew what was really going on. If you paid attention, you could pick things up on your own.

She wore tight corsets to give her a teeny waist - I helped her lace them up - but they had the effect of causing her to faint. Mom called it the vapors and said it was a sign of her high breeding and delicate nature. I thought it was a sign that the corset made it hard to breathe.

The dangerous falls were the ones that happened so fast you didn't have time to react

Memoir is about handing over you life to someone and saying, This is what I went through, this is who I am, and maybe you can learn something from it.