Maddie Dawson: "When you have kids..."

"When you have kids around, you have to do things that you maybe don't want to do, but they turn out to be fun.  Like sledding."

—Maddie Dawson, The Stuff That Never Happened

Maddie Dawson: "Life was tactile, messy..."

"Life was tactile, messy, earthy, inseparable from love."

—Maddie Dawson, The Stuff That Never Happened

Maddie Dawson: "But why can't I..."

"But why can't I have it all - passion and motherhood and family?"

—Maddie Dawson, The Stuff That Never Happened

Maddie Dawson: "He lowers his voice..."

"He lowers his voice and reaches over and takes my hand, and the world tilts."

—Maddie Dawson, The Stuff That Never Happened

Maddie Dawson: "It was as though..."

"It was as though my heart was beating a little faster all the time, my lungs took in more oxygen, my eyes took in more light."

—Maddie Dawson, The Stuff That Never Happened

Maddie Dawson: "You make me goofy..."

"You make me goofy with love."

—Maddie Dawson, The Stuff That Never Happened

Maddie Dawson: "I sit on the..."

"I sit on the bed next to [my daughter] and hold her, and I can't help it, I think of my mother - this whole chain of women we're making, how far it stretches into the past and how much further it will go into the future."

—Maddie Dawson, The Stuff That Never Happened

Maddie Dawson: "...I know sometimes a..."

"... I know sometimes a man can break your heart worse when he is far away but happy, and you realize how tangential you are to his real life."

—Maddie Dawson, The Stuff That Never Happened

Maddie Dawson: "How is it possible..."

"How is it possible to downsize a life to the point where bringing home an additional box of tea bags can tip the kitchen into chaos?"

—Maddie Dawson, The Stuff That Never Happened

Maddie Dawson: "Is there anything more..."

"Is there anything more heart-wrenching than having your child weeping and thanking you for doing the very thing that you should and want to be doing?"

—Maddie Dawson, The Stuff That Never Happened

Maddie Dawson: "Oh, she had my..."

"Oh, she had my number, all right.  I wanted to indulge her every creative impulse and create the perfect safe, artistic world for her from the very moment she slid out of me and I discovered myself in possession of a daughter..."

—Maddie Dawson, The Stuff That Never Happened

Maddie Dawson: "I guess I thought..."

"I guess I thought my parents knew something other people didn't know about how to hold it together."

—Maddie Dawson, The Stuff That Never Happened

Maddie Dawson: "I walked around on..."

"I walked around on the alert for love. I was an appreciator of people's best moments."

—Maddie Dawson, The Stuff That Never Happened

Maddie Dawson: "...she knows the heart..."

"...she knows the heart of love is good no matter where it lives inside you..."

—Maddie Dawson, The Stuff That Never Happened