Most people trusted in the future, assuming that their preferred version of it would unfold. - Jhumpa Lahiri

Human nature will not flourish, any more than a potato, if it be planted and replanted, for too long a series of generations, in the same worn-out soil. My children have had other birthplaces, and, so far as their fortunes may be within my control, shall strike their roots into unaccustomed earth. — NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE, “The Custom-House

The nickname had irritated and pleased her at the same time. It made her feel foolish, but she was aware that in renaming her he had claimed her somehow, already made her his own.

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