Marriages go through hard times. Sometimes you have to get in there and fight for your love. That's the only way for it to get better.

I guess no one stays friends for more than thirty years without broken hearts along the way.

It was true; always had been. Friendships were like marriages in that way. Routines and patterns were poured early and hardened like cement.

As mothers and daughters, we are connected with one another. My mother is the bones of my spine, keeping me straight and true. She is my blood, making sure it runs rich and strong. She is the beating of my heart. I cannot now imagine a life without her.

She waited for you in a thousand different ways.

I might screw up, I might embarrass you, I might yell at you, but I will never, ever stop loving you. You're my first born. The first time I held you... I fell in love so hard it cracked my bones.

Jude remembered this pain. Every woman had felt some version of it: the end of first love. It was when you learned, for good and always, that love could be impermanent.