My mother... she is beautiful, softened at the edges and tempered with a spine of steel. I want to grow old and be like her.

Sometimes I think my whole life has been about holding on to you.

Life sometimes gets so bogged down in the details, you forget you are living it. There is always another appointment to be met, another bill to pay, another symptom presenting, another uneventful day to be notched onto the wooden wall. We have synchronized our watches, studied our calendars, existed in minutes, and completely forgotten to step back and see what we've accomplished.

You can't look back - you just have to put the past behind you, and find something better in your future.

Read a ton. Take a workshop course so you learn to give and get criticism.

If you want to love a parent you have to understand the incredible investment he or she has in you. If you are a parent, and you want to be loved, you have to deserve it.

It felt like I'd been living underground, and for a moment, I'd been given this glimpse of the sky. Once you've seen that, how can you go back where you came from?