Getting out of the house is the secret to staying alert through the droning hours leading up to the big meal, even if you don't go farther than 7-Eleven for another six-pack.

The soul-sucking activity of TV-watching feels better when it is done with other souls.

Replace the words "have to" with "get to" and watch how the cold rain on your life changes to sunshine.

I couldn't have foreseen all the good things that have followed my mother's death. The renewed energy, the surprising sweetness of grief. The tenderness I feel for strangers on walkers. The deeper love I have for my siblings and friends. The desire to play the mandolin. The gift of a visitation.

Families are ecosystems. Each life grows in response to the lives around it

Accept certain inalienable truths, prices will rise, politicians will philander, you too will get old, and when you do you'll fantasize that when you were young prices were reasonable, politicians were noble and children respected their elders.

You can figure out who you were by which movies you loved when