Rebecky’s small, but consequential book:
Sela Ward is more attractive than Shannen Doherty

Evany’s final exam commentary: “Is there a word for ‘not one flash card I fashioned was in the least bit relevant to the exam I just took?’ No? Maybe in German.

Hula Hooping by Heather.

Best parts of A Home at the End of the World by Michael Cunningham:

“I was my father’s daughter. i wanted to be loved by someone like my tough judicious mother and I wanted to run screaming through the headlights with a bottle in my hand. That was the family curse. We tended to nurse flocks of undisciplined wishes that collided and canceled each other out. The curse implied that if we didn’t learn to train our desires in one direction or another, we were likely to end up with nothing.”

“He had big square hands and face blank and earnest as a shovel.”

“I tried to make myself stop caring about what I looked like. As she started in the with scissors, I reminded myself that our lives are made of changes we can’t control. Letting little things happen is good practice.”

“Woodstock is what towns were supposed to become before the old future got sidetracked and a new one took its place… I appreciate the kindness of its quiet streets and the people’s cheerful determination to live in ways that are mainly beside the point.”

When my niece and nephew come for a visit, I’m surprised by their utter lack of concern about dirt and germs. Trevor likes to pick things up out of the gutter and roll them around in his hands. Then he rubs his face. Emma touches absolutely everything. She runs her hands along anything at hand level. At the beach, I looked over to find her digging her fingertips into the top of the driftwood fence as she ran along next to it. I was alarmed.

“Yikes! Em, you’re going to get slivers!”

She glanced over at me and shrugged. “I like the way it sharpens my nails,” she said, holding out her hands for me to see.

I shuddered, and kept my mouth shut. Fearlessness is fleeting.