“The Universal Turtle VerseI spend the day nibbling rent-freeUnderneath the Giving Tree.Me, Rirty Dat and Snerry JakeShow Runny Babbit how to makeUp verses. Then I lug my hump(Careful not to bump the Glump)Into the woods to trade a wordWith the argle-bargle bird:Nuthatch wisely recommends,Find out where the sidewalk ends.”

“So, this is how it will play out. Today, in the sunshine, on the noisy sidewalk at Logan Airport in Boston, with people and their suitcases bumping into me, and taxi horns blaring and strangers going about their routine day, I’m about to learn that I have lost my husband. I will finally know his secrets.”

“Listen." I tugged at my neighbor. "Just listen to me! You must-you must give me an answer: out there, where your finite universe ends! What is out there, beyond it?”

“Life isn’t smooth, but it’s the bumps that help us find out who we are. And it’s handling the bumps that gives us courage.”

“The wanting was a wilderness and I had to find my own way out of the woods. It took me four years, seven months, and three days to do it. I didn't know where I was going until I got there.It was a place called the Bridge of the Gods.”

“Soon enough it will be me struggling (valiantly?) to walk - lugging my stuff around. How are we all so brave as to take step after step? Day after day? How are we so optimistic, so careful not to trip and yet do trip, and then get up and say O.K. Why do I feel so sorry for everyone and so proud?”