There are things you may know in your heart for a long while without admitting them to conscious awareness, until, unexpectedly, something triggers a… - Sonia Sotomayor

Although wisdom is built on life experiences, the mere accumulation of years guarantees nothing.

And he was utterly untainted by emotion.

HAVING MADE a different choice from that of many women, I occasionally do feel a tug of regret. When her mother died, Dawn’s eulogy was an expression of such feeling and care that I was shaken beyond the grief of having lost the dear friend her mother had become. I spent the following days pondering the bond between parent and child and wondering whether anyone would miss me that much when I died. 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.