“Growing up, I was utterly oblivious to the fact that Mom was teaching me all that. But I was instantly aware of her final lesson, which was hidden in her notes and leters. As I read them I began to understand that in the end you are the only one who can make yourself happy. More important, Mom showed me that it is never too late to find out how to do it.”

“...in the end you are the only one who can make yourself happy. More important, ...it is never too late to find out how to do it.”

“Throughout human history beauty has been seen as a gift from God, but Mom had another notion; she thought that beauty could be earned through self-knowledge. It may be a revolutionary idea, but it has offered me great comfort.”

“I felt that I was really living in the moment. I did not know where my life was going, but right now the future did not trouble me.”

“I had done this. I had pulled my life apart. I would never, ever be safe again.”

“Anyone who thinks they're too grown up or too sophisticated to eat caramel corn, is not invited to my house for dinner”

“...it was so rich and exotic I was seduced into taking one bite and then another as I tried to chase the flavors back to their source.”