It doesn't matter what it is that leaves a hole inside you. It just matters that it’s there.

Stem cell research has become such a polarizing issue in America... and I wanted to bring it down to the personal level, instead of the political.

The best thing about endings is knowing that just ahead is the daunting task to start over.

You can fool yourself, you know. You'd think it's impossible, but it turns out it's the easiest thing of all.

Was it the act of giving birth that made you a mother? Did you lose that label when you relinquished your child? If people were measured by their deeds, on the one hand, I had a woman who had chosen to give me up; on the other, I had a woman who'd sat up with me at night when I was sick as a child, who'd cried with me over boyfriends, who'd clapped fiercely at my law school graduation. Which acts made you more of a mother? Both, I realized. Being a parent wasn't just about bearing a child. It was about bearing witness to its life.

It turns out that sharing the past with someone is different from reliving it when you’re alone. It feels less like a wound, more like a poultice.

The best place to cry is on a mother's arms.