Family

Our children will one day lead the world, but it is our responsibility to show them that this world can be a beautiful one.

His green-flecked brown eyes twinkle, and we laugh together, easy and light. He opens the door for me, and I say goodbye, floating over to where my family waits in our Winnebago. And I can't tell you if my feet actually touch the ground, because at this very moment, this Bird, well, she flies.

My father was grounded, a very meat-and-potatoes man. He was a baker.

When coming to making kids: Size doesn’t count, it’s sperm count that counts.

It might be true that it is “quality time” that counts, but after a certain point quantity has a bearing on quality.

My mother took my brother and I to a production of 'The Tempest', and it was in this very small - it could have been the basement of a church or a black box. The space was vast, but there were maybe 15 seats in the middle. Ariel came out wearing a nude sparkly thong and spike heels, and the muses had these gossamer see-through gowns on.

It's true what they say, that a baby gives you a reason to live. But also, a baby is a reason that it is not permissible to die. There are days when this does not feel good.

You sure you want to come with me?” I said. “The odds are not good.” “We’re family,” said Suzie. I had to smile. “I haven’t been all that lucky when it comes to family.” “We’re the family you chose,” said Dead Boy. “The family that matters.

One for the master And one for my dame And one for the little boy Who lives in the lane.

I had a serious library at my disposal, because my Popo believed that culture entered by osmosis and it was better to start early, but my favorite books were fairy tales.

While my parents never had the time or money to secure university education themselves, they were adamant that their children should. In comfort and in love, we were taught the joys of knowledge and of work well done. I only regret that neither my mother nor my father could live to see the day I would accept the Nobel Prize.

Sherrie would be there, and the last time I’d seen her at a social event she burst into tears when she saw me and ran out of the room. You’re upset, I’d yelled after her, meanly.

My mom handed me my first romance novel.

We watch them grow, with sadness and amazement and fear. We have stepped away, but not entirely away. They know this. They sense it. We are no longer here, but we are not yet gone. And we will be like that for the rest of their lives.We watch, and they surprise us.We watch, and they surpass us.

I got to say 'Hi' to Dolly Parton, which my mom thought was kind of cool.

She is bending over her child. She can’t leave her. Thechild is laid out in state on a table. She wants to take one more photograph of the child, probably the last. In life, the child would never sit still for a photograph. She says to herself, “I’m going to get the camera,” as if saying to the child, “Don’t move.

The day my son was born my life changed completely.

You're never too old, too wacky, too wild, to pick up a book and read to a child.

Parenting: Nobody really wants the job, but everybody thinks they can do better.

I still say Kellyanne could do with some real-live mates,' went on my dad, as if he was talking to someone inside his beer.Mum had stomped off into the kitchen. 'Maybe they are real!' she shouted back at him after rattling a few plates together. 'Ever thought about that, ye of little bloody imagination?