Maybe young women don't wonder whether they can have it all any longer, but in case any of you are wondering, of course you can have it all. It will be a little messy, but embrace the mess. It will be complicated, but rejoice in the complications. It will not be anything like what you think it will be like, but surprises are good for you. And don't be frightened: you can always change your mind. I know: I've had four careers and three husbands.

Parenting meant that whether or not your children understood you, your obligation was to understand them.

You're born, you die. Everything in between is subject to interpretation.

Food became, for dinner parties in the sixties, what abstract expressionism had been in the fifties.

Your education is a dress rehearsal for a life that is yours to lead.

The empty nest is underrated.

So much of what I see reminds me of something I read in a book, when shouldn't it be the other way around?