Divorce is the psychological equivalent of a triple coronary by pass. After such a monumental assault on the heart, it takes years to amend all the habits and attitudes that led up to it.

Mother is the first word that occurs to politicians and columnists and popes when they raise the question, 'Why isn't life turning out the way we want it?

Families don't always realize that mother is exhausted, because mother is always exhausted. Exhausted is what looks normal.

Our humor turns our anger into a fine art.

The truth invariably arrives several years after you need it.

It takes twenty or so years before a mother can know with any certainty how effective her theories have been--and even then thereare surprises. The daily newspapers raise the most frightening questions of all for a mother of sons: Could my once sweet babes ever become violent men? Are my sons really who I think they are?

A mother can legitimately be said to 'have a baby' - but in a civilization such as ours, she can never claim to own a teenager.