Kim Quindlen

You want to feel loved. And cared for. You want there to be someone out there who misses you. But you’re looking for validation in the wrong places. You’re not going to feel more alive and less invisible just because someone kisses you a few times and tells you they missed you.

She’s scared, because having someone and then not suddenly not having them is a lot scarier than being alone.

1. Yes, you’re well aware that wine bottles aren’t technically people. But you don’t care. Wine loved you back when your ex-boyfriend wouldn’t. So as far as you’re concerned, Sutterhome is the Jack to your Rose.

I don’t care what your friends think or what your parents think or what your coworker thinks.

1. Sometimes you feel like you are the reluctant source of entertainment when you’re hanging out with your friends. It often feels like they’re all just sitting there waiting for you to say or do something ridiculous.

Cling to it, to the fact that you don’t know who you are. Don’t try to make a drastic change in order to figure it out. We’re never really going to know who we are because we’re always changing.

When you tell us that we’re like the Jan of the family, we want to punch you in the face. Because Jan is the WORST part of the Brady Bunch. She was the whiny, annoying middle child, whereas we’re like the cool, artsy, misunderstood middle child. Obviously.

What They Say: I like to drink wine.
What They Mean: I like to drink wine and it’s extremely important that you never forget that.

What They Say: Nothing, for three days at a time.

I know that this all isn’t going to be solved by the end of the season but I still HAVE TO LISTEN.

Sometimes, when you’re out to dinner with friends and you’re making an effort to stay off your phone, all you get to do instead is watch them play on theirs. You don’t realize how weird it all is until you take a step back from the behavior and watch someone else doing what you used to do and sometimes still do.

Everyone around you is glass, and you’re just wandering around, trying to hold them while they’re warm.

We put 100% of ourselves into everything we do. That includes relationships. If we’re in a relationship with you, we’re going to make damn sure that we give it our all.

Go to bed early. This is one of the most important things you can do for yourself. When you’re exhausted, everything seems much worse than it is. Tomorrow might still be a difficult day, but it will be a hell of a lot better than today if you get a good night’s sleep.

When you lose your health for a while, you start to see pretty clearly what matters and what is stupid. Clothes are stupid. Social status is stupid. Money is stupid. The Real Housewives is stupid.

If you want a career and a big family, people give you looks as if you’re crazy.

I only want to do this once.

I sort of understand why the Mall Santas keep a flask in their pants.