“I think sometimes that people are like onions. On the outside smooth and whole and simple but inside ring upon ring, complex and deep.”

“Onion ring?" Zara said, handing her a leftover carton.As everyone knows, the offer of an onion ring is not to be taken lightly. Onion rings are far more valuable than their throwaway side dish counterparts -- french fries and potato chips -- and, as such, have brought about numerous reconciliations throughout history.”

“Now I knew how women felt when they thought they were going to get a diamond ring and ended up with an onion ring”

“My bones are ringing the way sometimes people say their ears are ringing, I'm so tired.”

“To age is to embrace a slow hurt inside and out, to collect scars like rings on a tree, dark and withered and sometimes only visible if someone cuts deep enough. Scars keep the past close enough to touch, but healing is forgetting. Healing invites another cut. Healing is the tide that smoothes away our line in the sand. For life to begin, the damage must be permanent.”

“Sometimes I like her calm, unwild, gentle as a sleeping child,and wonder as she lies, a fur ring,curled upon my lap, unstirring -- is it me or Tibbles purring?”