“I saw that it was all over, put away in a box like a doll no longer cared for, the magical intimacy of our childhood together”

“I don't care if we have our house, or a cliff ledge, or a cardboard box. Home is wherever we all are, together,”

“I can’t go on like this, I told myself. And You can’t possibly want me to feel this way, I demanded of God.  God didn’t argue. Forced to choose between my nostalgia for the faith of my childhood and my dignity as an adult, I put down the doll and drove away.”

“You're like a doll I had when I was a kid. She was all stiched together and her head kept falling off, but I loved that doll. That's what you look like. Like somebody just loved you to death.”

“We want our children to have a childhood that's magical and enriched, but I'll bet that your best childhood memories involve something you were thrilled to do by yourself. These are childhood's magic words: "I did it myself!”

“M is for magic. All the letters are, if you put them together properly. You can make magic with them, and dreams, and, I hope, even a few surprises...”