You will always miss her. There will be days - even years from now - when the missing will be so sharp it will take your breath away. But there will be good days, too, months and years of them. In one way or another you'll be searching for her all your life.

A daughter without her mother is a woman broken. It is a loss that turns to arthritis and settles deep into her bones.

I'm an insomniac lately. It's one of the many prizes you find in the Cracker Jack box of a crumbling [relationship].

Some stories don't have happy endings. Even love stories. Maybe especially love stories.

Whenever I write about motherhood - and I write about it a lot - I am drawing on my experiences as a mother and also my experiences as a daughter.

It's not a date. I bought my own drink and I didn't shave my legs.

Real friends. The kind that don't purposely hurt your feelings or stop liking you for no reason.