I am a mother and mothers don’t have the luxury of falling apart in front of their children, even when they are afraid, even when their children are adults.

There was something she hadn't known when she went into marriage and became a mother that she knew now: it was only possible to live without love when you'd never known it.

She knew it was wrong to be angry with her mother now - the weather wasn't her fault - but Loreda couldn't help herself. She was mad at the world, and somehow that meant shew as mad at her mom most of all.

She had counted on a lifetime to teach her children what they needed to know, but she didn't have the gift of grace and time. Still, she had given them what mattered: they were loved and they knew it. Everything else was decoration. Love remains.

If I had told him the truth long ago, or had danced and drunk and sung more, maybe he would have seen me instead of a dependable, ordinary mother. He loves a version of me that is incomplete. I always thought it was what I wanted; to be loved and admired. Now i think perhaps I'd like to be known.