Caro: "Bite me." Ruby: "I gave that up in kindergarten.

When you get . . . to the end, you see that love and family are all there is. Nothing else matters.

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

She'd been criticized for holding the reins of parenthood too tightly, of controlling her children too completely, but she didn't know how to let go. From the moment she'd first decided to become a mother, it had been an epic battle.

It's not intentions that matter. It's actions. We are what we do and say, not what we intend to.

Fifteen minutes later, Betsy came thundering down the stairs. "I'm going to the mall with Sierra to see a movie." Michael leaned forward, switched off the television. "Can you please rephrase that in the form of a question?" "Sure. Can I have some money?

The at-home mother's life: it was a race with no finish line.