I have so much to learn from Pippi Longstocking, Ramona Quimby, Harriet the Spy: Don’t just sit there like a rock waiting to get upset. Be yourself. Take risks.

Laughing is like a gym membership. You move your lymph. You get great abs. You can even pull a muscle.

We fall in love the way a fish swims in water. We fall in love the way the leaf fell from the tree. Love is all there is. We sleep in love. We walk in love. We play rugby in love. We eat popovers in love. And there I was, arms outstretched like Frankenstein, looking for it.

When you ask me what I do for fun, I’m going to stare at you blankly. Can’t almost anything be fun?

If only we could tap into adopted kid’s brains and hear what they are thinking, both in their conscious and subconscious minds.

When I used to ride my bike a lot, I had a riding partner who liked to pass the miles by playing the game “What would you do if you won the lottery?”

It’s easy to turn yourself into a seemingly empty vessel for other people to dump their shit into when you are trying not to have needs or a personality of your own, but boy does it feel lousy.

Bob Dylan could make a great adopted person. He could mumble his needs and leave all those around him even more deeply confused.

There is such a strong desire to cling to the past and to stay the same. It’s like the universe is saying to me, Here. You can either feel healthy and alive or you can feel like shit, and I nod wisely and I said, I’ll pick shit.

When I do Write or Die, I have people write about a time they felt most themselves. More often than not, they describe themselves when they were about six years old.

I want you to know you are not alone.

This song is not about an empowered American girl! It’s about heartbreak!!! How had I missed this??