Maria Semple, Today Will Be Different

"I just want to hold you close." I gave Timby a squeeze. He relaxed in my embrace. "I'm wild about you, you know that, right"I know." He smiled up at me."You don't have to be wild about me too. Just try to like me a little more than you do now."

"Earlier this year, I'd told a mother at school I'd been married fifteen year. She asked, "What's the secret to a long marriage" I thought for a second, then answered, "Staying married."

"As far as I’m concerned, the only thing sweeter than seeing a friend is that friend canceling on me."

"That was happiness. Not the framed greatest hits, but the moments in between. At the time, I hadn't pegged them as being particularly happy. But now, looking back at those phantom snapshots, I'm struck by my calm, my ease, the evident comfort with my life. I'm happy in retrospect."

"Was it happiness I'd found in my long marriage? Or capitulation? Or is that all happiness is, capitulation?"