She never gave up adoring our father, but he ceased to be, for her, the larger-than-life hero I continued to make him into. For Patty, he was more like a deeply lovable spaniel who keeps peeing on the rug and chewing on the upholstery, no matter how many times you tell him not to.

Ten years from now, her mother might not even recognize her. Already she was different, but the day would come when she’d be this person her mother had never seen. There would be other people – someone like Carolyn or Alan, or even Violet – who had known her longer than her mother ever did.

I love him,” Patty said. “But our dad is a loser.

Friends. There’s a loaded word for you. I know some people, when speaking of a particular relationship, may say “we’re just friends,” as if this were some lesser form of connection to that of lovers or so-called soul mates. But to me, there may be no bond that matters more, in the end, than friendship. True and enduring friendship. Alice.

Love doesn’t come and go when it’s real. Love is supposed to be constant.

No, I said. I didn’t remember that. There was so much to remember, sometimes the best thing was to forget.

More than any other setting – more than battlefields or boardrooms or a spaceship headed for intergalactic travel – I’ll put my money on the family to provide an endless source of comedy, tragedy and intrigue.

Nothing like being visible, publishing one’s work, and speaking openly about one’s life, to disabuse the world of the illusion of one’s perfection and purity.

One of the sad realities of being a parent is that the same stuff you know is exciting, educational, and enriching in your child’slife is often messy, smelly and exhausting to deal with.

When people ask what I write about, that’s what I tell them: ‘The drama of human relationships.’ I’m not even close to running out of material.