Erica Bauermeister quotes:

She became a frame for the picture that was her son and daughter.

Maybe your mind won't remember what I cooked last week, but your body will.

Adults need to have fun so children will want to grow up.

When Marion had been a teenager, she wanted a tattoo. As an oldest child who did mostly what was expected of her, she had been fascinated by the abandon tattoos implied, the willing, blind leap into commitment.

TIME WENT ON, life with the children unfolding in its own ecosystem, small plastic toys seeming to grow up from the carpet like mushrooms, clothes falling to the floor like autumn leaves. Every once in a while she would blaze through the house and clean everything-at which point, the process would start all over.

Each person's heart breaks in it's own way. Every cure will be different, but there are some things we all need. Before anything else, we need to feel safe.

Marriage is a leap of faith. You are each other's safety net.

The women ranged in age, but they were all old enough to know that in the currency of friendship, empathy is more valuable than accuracy.

You're not traveling if you already know everything.

Sometimes, niña, our greatest gifts grow from what we are not given.

You ride one in to the beach, and it's the most amazing thing you've ever felt. But at some point the water goes back out; it has to. And maybe you're lucky-maybe you're both too busy to do anything drastic. Maybe you're good as friends, so you stay. And then something happens-maybe it's something as big as a baby, or as small as him unloading the dishwasher-and the wave comes back in again. And it does that, over and over. I just think sometimes people forget to wait.

A risk is a risk because it's avoidable.

We're all just ingredients. What matters is the grace with which you cook the meal.

You could never be certain what you would find in a book that had spent time with someone else.

If you live in your senses, slowly, with attention, if you use your eyes and your fingertips and your taste buds, then romance is something you'll never need a greeting card to make you remember.

I am starting to think that maybe memories are like this dessert. I eat it, and it becomes a part of me, whether I remember it later or not.

Life is beautiful. Some people just remind you of that more than others.

She said, 'You can be broken, or broken open. That choice is yours.'