Absence makes the heart grow frozen, not fonder.

There is a time to separate from our mother. But unless we are ready to separate-unless we are ready to leave her and be left-anything is better than separation.

The need to become a separate self is as urgent as the yearning to merge forever. And as long as we, not our mother, initiate parting, and as long as our mother remains reliably there, it seems possible to risk, and even to revel in, standing alone.

Passionate investment leaves us vulnerable to loss. And sometimes, no matter how clever we are, we must lose.

We begin life with loss. We are cast from the womb without an apartment, a charge plate, a job or a car. We are sucking, sobbing, clinging, helpless babies.

Absence makes the heart grow frozen, not fonder.

Superstition is foolish, childish, primitive and irrational - but how much does it cost you to knock on wood?