[T]he more critical lesson I learned that day is still one too many kids never figure out: don't be shy about making a teacher of any willing party w… - Sonia Sotomayor

Look at another person and understand no matter how much you disagree with them… if you look, you will find good in them.

Experience has taught me that you cannot value dreams according to the odds of their coming true. Their real value is in stirring within us the will to aspire.

Ultimately, I accept that there is no perfect substitute for the claim that a parent and child have on each other’s heart. But families can be made in other ways, and I marvel at the support and inspiration I’ve derived from the ones I’ve built of interlocking circles of friends. In their constant embrace I have never felt alone.