"I wondered where somewhere was.  I wondered if this was a date.  I wondered if he had planned all of this and what it meant.  But most of all, I wondered if a person could actually burst from so many feelings at once."
-The Start of Me and You by Emery Lord

"I weighed it in my mind for the thousandth time: the fluttering in my chest versus the shattering possibility of destroying our friendship.

And even though I rolled my eyes, I made my way toward him."
-The Start of Me and You by Emery Lord

"Things change.  There are so many outside forces coming at marriage; finances and jobs and houses and children.  You can lose each other if you're not careful.  It doesn't mean it was all a wash."
-The Start of Me and You by Emery Lord

"When it all closes in, there are only two kinds of people: best friends and everyone else."
-The Start of Me and You by Emery Lord

"She behaved as if there had always been the One Great Leaving and each iteration of it brought the same welling up.  A love that big could only create havoc, and I hurried out of her arms, ashamed to be the one who could stir her up like that."
-Selfish, Shallow, and Self-Absorbed: Sixteen Writers on the Decision Not to Have Kids by Meghan Daum

"Meanwhile, I'm an introvert and so is Brendan.  Children exhaust us, even the ones we love most.  Our solitude is the most valuable thing we have, and we cherish it above most other things and work hard to maintain it."
-Selfish, Shallow, and Self-Absorbed: Sixteen Writers on the Decision Not to Have Kids by Meghan Daum

"She couldn't escape the storms raging in her own skull any more than I was now able to escape mine.  I worried that if I had a baby, I'd inflict this on her.  I would be a good mother in every way I could, but I'd also be a very troubled one."
-Selfish, Shallow, and Self-Absorbed: Sixteen Writers on the Decision Not to Have Kids by Meghan Daum