It was only when I followed Dad into our house and saw the empty chair that I was able to convince myself it was true. I would never see him again, never feel that curved old back under my fingertips as I hugged him, never again make him a cup of tea or interpret his silent words or joke with him about cheating at Sudoku.
If women try to get you to read something it’s because they fancy you. They want to be in your head. Try to make you think of stuff.
Women always have to make the difficult choices.
These are the things I learned about being a parent, while not actually being a parent. That whatever you did you would probably be wrong. If you were cruel or dismissive or neglectful, you would leave scars upon your charge.
There is no happiness in this world other than what is achieved by love of one’s work.
And as she walks, in a city of strangers, her nostrils filled with the scent of street food, her ears filled with an unfamiliar language, she feels something unexpected wash through her. She feels connected, alive.
This thing has shown her that age is no protection against the hazards of love.
I don’t think he’ll be able to see you over the radio,” Frances ventured. “But I still want to look nice for him.” Margaret.
It’s not the bloody carrots that upset me. It’s having them sneaked into my food by a madwoman who addresses the cutlery as Mr and Mrs Fork.
You and I could no more not love each other than the earth could stop circling the sun.
Live boldly. Push yourself. Don’t settle. Wear those stripy legs with pride.
How does one lift one’s own life out of the mundane and into something epic? Surely one should be brave enough to love?
She had seeped into his consciousness so thoroughly, absorbing all lucid thought, that not only could he think of nothing else but no longer cared to.
The young are right to be fearless, she reminded herself. Remember yourself at that age.
I have never really been an animal person. But I suddenly understood what comfort could be gained from burying your face in the soft pelt of another creature, the consolation of the many small.
There are no real secrets among the rich, it turns out. Just people paid to keep them.
She had once been told by her favorite aunt that the best way to get through life was not to dwell on things so she packed those events into a suitcase, and shoved it to the back of a mental cupboard, just as she had done with numerous suitcases before.
Life is complicated. Which is why finding a little joy where you can is important.
And I pressed send, realizing, as it whooshed into the ether, that I had now condemned myself to unknown hours of e-mail-related anxiety while I waited for him to respond.
To Seek Knowledge Is To Expand Your Own Universe.