There must be more to life than having everything.

Once a little boy sent me a charming card with a little drawing on it. I loved it. I answer all my children’s letters — sometimes very hastily — but this one I lingered over. I sent him a card and I drew a picture of a Wild Thing on it. I wrote, “Dear Jim: I loved your card.” Then I got a letter back from his mother and she said, “Jim loved your card so much he ate it.” That to me was one of the highest compliments I’ve ever received. He didn’t care that it was an original Maurice Sendak drawing or anything. He saw it, he loved it, he ate it.

Venturing back further, learning is so slow. Accomplishment is so slow. Experiencing and evaluating your experience is so slow.

What is the point of it all? Not leaving legacies. But being ripe. Being ripe.

I grew up in a house that was in a constant state of mourning.

There's a mystery there, a clue, a nut, a bolt, and if I put it together, I find me.

Parents shouldn't assume children are made out of sugar candy and will break and collapse instantly. Kids don't. We do.