And that was the greatest heartbreak of all- no matter how spectacular we want our children to be, no matter how perfect we pretend they are, they are bound to disappoint. As it turns out, kids are more like us than we think: damaged, through and through.

If you were drifting with a thousand other people, could you really still say you were lost?

There are some things, I think, you're btter off not remembering.

I cannot admit this out loud. In the first place, we are expected to be supermoms these days, instead of admitting that we have flaws. It is tempting to believe that all mothers wake up feeling fresh every morning, never raise their voices, only cook with organic food, and are equally at ease with the CEO and the PTA.

For better or for worse, music is the language of memory. It is also the language of love.

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.

Many trees have died so that the Catholic Church can preach against homosexuality.