That's how birthdays were in our house. All hateful charades of pretty clothes, expensive presents, and ugly words . . .

You don’t choose these people and in the not choosing you learn tolerance. You learn to forgive.

There are family mysteries I cannot solve. There are family mysteries I am unwilling to solve.

It has always been a standing joke in the family that I've never been invited to the queen's birthday party, what with us being born on the same day, never thinking it would actually come true.

MOTHER LOVE IS THE FUEL THAT ENABLES A NORMAL HUMAN BEING TO DO IMPOSSIBLE.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM

In order to survive I must turn my heart into diamond...one of the most beautiful substances on earth, yet also the hardest.