It feels like I'm babysitting in the Twilight Zone. I keep waiting for the parents to show up because we are out of chips and diet cokes. - Anne Lamott

Periods in the wilderness or desert were not lost time. You might find life, wildflowers, fossils, sources of water. I wish there were shortcuts to wisdom and self-knowledge: cuter abysses or three-day spa wilderness experiences. Sadly, it doesn’t work that way. I so resent this.

It was not facing what life dealt that made you crazy, but rather trying to set life straight where it was unstraightenable.

By the end I was deteriorating faster than I could lower my standards.