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

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.

We women make choices for others, not for ourselves, and when we are mothers, we...bear what we must for our children. You will protect them. It will hurt you; it will hurt them. Your job is to hide that your heart is breaking and do what they need you to do.

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.

Do you love him?" How would I know?" You'd know.

No mother. Two small words, and yet within them lay a bottomless well of pain and loss, a ceaseless mourning for touches that were never received and words of wisdom that were never spoken. No single word was big enough to adequately describe the loss of your mother.

I am such a Pacific Northwest girl.