The more I feel imperfect, the more I feel alive.

The imperfection became a mark of distinction about their home. Something visitors noticed, the first family anecdote that was told.

Imperfection inspires invention, imagination, creativity. It stimulates. The more I feel imperfect, the more I feel alive.

It was important to me to become day-to-day fluent and functional in another language, and about 10 years ago, I went to Rome for the first time and felt an instant gut connection and wanted to get to know the city.

A lot of my upbringing was about denying or fretting or evading.

A lot of my personality was informed by feeling very different in the world I grew up in, feeling that I didn't fully belong, that my parents didn't belong.