A mother’s memories, a child’s fears, a dead man’s secrets

Please understand: the external metamorphosis comes only at the very end, after a long, sustained effort. There is a lot of inner work you have to do before then. Also there is luck involved.

You can belong to yourself, but it’s lonely, and you can belong to others, but there’s loss built into that, in uncountable forms.

A teacher’s legacy, a professor’s dilemma, a stranger’s confessions

There isn’t really a reset button for life — a switch you can hit, after you’ve gone through something terrible, that lets you go back to the beginning and start over. But there should be.

Do I need to go into what turns an eleven-year-old into such a stoic: embarrassed to be sentimental, determined to be detached?

Daniela can’t stand Lisa. Exactly why, I’m not sure. I can see her criticizing Lisa, who is her boss, but Daniela’s anger goes well beyond mere criticism. I suspect her rage stems in part from their age difference.

That year, all our fathers had died or were getting ready to, and they were not taking it well, that is for sure.