It's a great thing when a man knows how to dance, she said. When a man can dance, the world is his oyster." Adele, Henry's Mother

Imagine if you succeeded in making the world perfect for your children what a shock the rest of life would be for them.

The real drug, I came to believe, was love.

In the event of an oxygen shortage on airplanes, mothers of young children are always reminded to put on their own oxygen mask first, to better assist the children with theirs. The same tactic is necessary on terra firma. There's no way of sustaining our children if we don't first rescue ourselves. I don't call that selfish behavior. I call it love.

It's not only children who grow. Parents do too. As much as we watch to see what our children do with their lives, they are watching us to see what we do with ours. I can't tell my children to reach for the sun. All I can do is reach for it, myself.

It troubles me that people speak about writing for money as ugly and distasteful.

No, I said. I didn't remember that. There was so much to remember, sometimes the best thing was to forget.