My theory is this: Women falter when they're called on to be highly self-conscious about their talents. Not when they're called on to enact them.

I envy my Jewish friends the ritual of saying kaddish - a ritual that seems perfectly conceived, with its built-in support group and its ceremonious designation of time each day devoted to remembering the lost person.

The truth is, I need to experience my mother's presence in the world around me and not just in my head.

A death from a long illness is very different from a sudden death. It gives you time to say goodbye and time to adjust to the idea that the beloved will not be with you anymore.

All love stories are tales of beginnings. When we talk about falling in love, we go to the beginning, to pinpoint the moment of freefall.

Writing has always been the primary way I make sense of the world.