quote

"when i was young, the future was where all the good stuff was kept, the party clothes, the pretty china, the family silver, the grown up jobs. the future was a land of its own, and we couldn't wait to get there. not that youth wasn't great, but it came with disadvantages; i remember the feeling i was missing something really good that was going on somewhere else, somewhere i wasn't. i remember the feeling i was missing something really good that was going on somewhere else, somewhere i wasn't. i remember feeling life passing me by. i remember impatience. i don't feel that way now. if something interesting is going on somewhere else, good, thank god, i hope nobody calls me. sometimes it's all i can do to brush my teeth-- toothpaste is just too stimulating. the future was also the place where the bad stuff waited in ambush.... now i know i can control my tongue, my temper, and my appetites, but that's it. i have no effect on weather, traffice, or luck. i can't make good things happen. i cna't influence the future, and i can't fix the past. what a relief." -Abigail Thomas (A Three Dog Life: A Memoir)