He smiles at me, and I am suddenly seventeen again - the year I realize that love doesn't follow the rules, the year I understood that nothing is worth having so much as something unattainable

Just because fate had thrown another obstacle in my way didn't mean I had to give up my dreams.

I'm grateful for my children, who are slowly emerging to become their own wonderful, interesting, compassionate young adults - which makes me believe that along the way I must have done something right.

Honey, Kate is not going to die sooner because you have one more glass of mine, or because you stay overnight in a hotel, or because you let yourself crack up at a bad joke. So sit your ass back down and turn up the volume and act like you're a normal person.

do you fix a wheel that isn't broken, or do you wait until the cart collapses?

Since I was five, I've known that I was adopted, which is a politically correct term for being clueless about one's own origins.

I sometimes wonder if it is just me, or if there are other women who figure out where they are supposed to be by going nowhere.