I Am Such A Pacific Northwest Girl.

I Have Often Wished In The Past Few Years That My Mom Were Here To Help Me As I Raised My Own Teenage Son. As A Girl, With My Own Mom, I Thought I Knew It All; Now I Know Better. Somewhere, I Know My Mom Is Smiling.

We Can't Live Other People's Lives For Them. Even If We Love Them.

They Would Always Be A Family, But If She'd Learned Anything In The Past Few Weeks It Was That A Family Wasn't A Static Thing. There Were Always Changes Going On. Like With Continents, Sometimes The Changes Were Invisible And Underground, And Sometimes They Were Explosive And Deadly. The Trick Was To Keep Your Balance. You Couldn't Control The Direction Of Your Family Any More Than You Could Stop The Continental Shelf From Breaking Apart. All You Could Do Was Hold On For The Ride.

It’s A Promise Ring,” He Said Solemnly. “the Lady At The Store Said It’s What You Give The Girl You Love. It Means I Want To Marry You Someday.

She Had Been Ready To Love This Man From The Moment She First Saw Him. In All These Years, That Had Never Changed. They'd Hurt Each Other, Let Each Other Down, And Yet, Here They Were After Everything, Together. She Needed Him Now, Needed Him To Remind Her That She Was Live, That She Wasn't Alone, That She Hadn't Lost Everything.