“Something she and her husband had in common but rarely discussed was the absence of a desire for children, to fill their home with people besides themselves. It was a silent agreement, felt rather than spoken, and in her experience the soundest agreements were the ones that did not require the reassurances of language. Therefore this line of questioning was the inverse of what she usually fielded, since a childless married woman in her thirties was so often regarded, by men and women alike, as a puzzle or a pity. What's the story here? people would ask, inquests designed to make women like her suspect there was something malformed inside, blinding them to the hideous reality of their choice.” ChildrenChoicesWomenMarriageAbnormalityChildlessness Book:The Third Hotel Source: The Third Hotel
“There were three sides to a marriage: public and private and who-fucking-knows, one lived and one performed and one a thundering mystery.” RelationshipsMarriageMysteryPrivate LifePublic Life Book:The Third Hotel Source: The Third Hotel
“Deception is necessary. In marriage, in life. Otherwise the world will just sandblast us away. You have to keep something for yourself.” LifeMarriageSurvivalDeceptionSecrets Book:The Isle of Youth: Stories Source: The Isle of Youth: Stories
“When you're married, our counselor had told us, happiness is like a joint banking account; it becomes full or depleted in tandem.” HappinessMarriagePartnership Book:The Isle of Youth: Stories Source: The Isle of Youth: Stories