The family is changing not disappearing. We have to broaden our understanding of it, look for the new metaphors.

Human beings do not eat nutrients, they eat food.

As you get up in the morning, as you make decisions, as you spend money, make friends, make commitments, you are creating a piece of art called your life.

I had repeatedly accepted inappropriate burdens, stepping in to do what needed to be done. In retrospect, I think I carried them well, but the cost was that I was chronically overloaded, weary, and short of time for politicking, smoothing ruffled feathers, and simply resting.

Traditionally in American society, men have been trained for both competition and teamwork through sports, while women have been reared to merge their welfare with that of the family, with fewer opportunities for either independence or other team identifications, and fewer challenges to direct competition. In effect, women have been circumscribed within that unit where the benefit of one is most easily believed to be the benefit of all.

Every loss recapitulates earlier losses, but every affirmation of identity echoes earlier moments of clarity.

When parents die, all of the partings of the past are reevoked with the realization that this time they will not return.