I think this is what hooks one to gardening: it is the closest one can come to being present at creation.

A party is a slightly artificial event where one learns the rudiments of human behavior at its most admirable: speaking when spoken to, looking somebody in the eye, shaking hands and being friendly under duress.

One of the earliest religious disappointments in a young girl's life devolves upon her unanswered prayer for a horse.

If there is any reason to single out artists as being more necessary to our lives than any others, it is because they provide us with light that cannot be extinguished. They go into dark rooms and poke at their souls until the contours of our own are familiar to us.

To send a letter is a good way to go somewhere, without moving anything but your heart.

To envy is to draw circles that isolate us from others, to take small, bitter trips that diminish the traveler.

there is probably no such thing as an innocent question, at least not when a parent is doing the asking.