But mothers lie. It's in the job description.

But why Alaska?' I asked her. 'Well, later, I found out what it means. It's from an Aleut word, Alyeska. It means 'that which the sea breaks against,' and I love that. But at the time, I just saw Alaska up there. And it was big, just like I wanted to be.

I shaved this morning for precisely that reason. I was like, 'Well, you never know when someone is going to clamp down on your calf and try to suck out the snake poison.

I like this world. I like drinking champagne. I like not smoking. I like Dutch people speaking Dutch.

Mom sobbed something into Dad's chest that I wish I hadn't heard, and that I hope she never finds out that I did hear. She said, "I won't be a mom anymore." It gutted me pretty badly.

We landed, in fact, parallel to a canal, like there were two runways: one for us and one for waterfowl.

You spend your whole life stuck in the labyrinth.