“Forget what they told you. You want the truth, follow the money.”

“Reality is highly overrated.”

“Supermom wasn't a bad job description. The pay was lousy if you were talking about real money. But the payoff was priceless in so many other ways.”

“Calm down, she told herself. Try to at least act normal before he starts thinking of you as a freak as well.”

“Feelings follow actions.”

“Money doesn't make you happy," Mom insists, whipping carrots and lettuce out of the cart. "Money doesn't make you laugh when you're lonely, or make you full of contentment on Christmas morning.”

“I left this morning saying ‘I love you’as if setting out for some unknown countryinstead of the corner shop. I wantedyou to be sure, in casethis time - out of, say, 10,000 departuresI never made it back: althoughafter 50 years together, 2 countries,3 children, and several former journeysthat would put this one to shameyou’d think there’d be no need to pauseon my own doorstep, suddenly afraidof the distance between us, of your absolute beauty,of the growing aloneness when I clicked the latch.”