“I am very serious about my baby.”

“Yes, it is cool, and I very much hope this baby likes me, he went on, because I think I'm already crazy about it, almost as much as I am about its mother.”

“Are you seriously telling me the truth about all this?" I asked."I seriously am," he replied. "I was also serious about stealing a fry.”

“I think," said my neighbour, her chin very high in the air (and still spiffed, I am glad to say) "that women who've never married and never had children have missed out on the central experiences of life. They are emotionally crippled."Now what am I supposed to say to that? I ask you. That women who've never won the Nobel Peace Prize have also experienced a serious deprivation? It's like taking candy from a baby; the poor thing isn't allowed to get angry, only catty. I said, "That's rude, and silly," and helped her to mashed potatoes....."You can't catch a man.""That's why I'll never be abandoned," said I. Fortunately she did not hear me. Did I say taking candy from babies? Rather, eating babies, killing babies, abandoning babies. So sad, so easy.”

“My first job is big sister and I take that very seriously.”

“I am having a quarter-life crisis," I announced to my mother. "My generation never had those, we just had babies and thought about killing them from time to time.”