You signed no contract to become a parent, but the responsibilities were written in invisible ink. There was a point when you had to support your child, even if no one else would. It was your job to rebuild the bridge, even if your child was the one who burned it in the first place.

Once the world was pulled out from beneath your feet, did you ever get to stand on firm ground again?

We make messes of our lives, but every now and then, we manage to do something that's exactly right. The challenge is figuring out which is which.

We dont have to accept each others beliefs..but we do have to accept each others right to believe them.

Doing the right thing for someone else occasionally means doing something that feels wrong to you.

Like Connor, Alex protected me -and he was the only person I let close enough to do it. Like Connor, Alex could finish my sentences before I did. But unlike Connor, for whom I had ultimately come too late, I was just in time to take care of Alex.

I wonder if the conversations you've never had with someone count, if you've been over them a thousand times in your mind.