Families were never what you wanted them to be. We all wanted what we couldn't have: the perfect child, the doting husband,… — Jodi Picoult Copy Share Image
No matter what Joe Hoffman and Wade Preston say, it's not gender that makes a family; it's love. You don't need a… — Jodi Picoult Copy Share Image
“Here's what I hadn't realized : the mother you haven't seen for almost 36 years isn't your mother. She is a stranger.… — Jodi Picoult Copy Share Image
You signed no contract to become a parent, but the responsibilities were written in invisible ink. There was a point when you… — Jodi Picoult Copy Share Image
“You see, Minka, my father would say. Anything is possible. Even the most terrible beast might one day be a distant memory.… — Jodi Picoult Copy Share Image
I cannot admit this out loud. In the first place, we are expected to be supermoms these days, instead of admitting that… — Jodi Picoult Copy Share Image
The answer is that there is no good answer. So as parents, as doctors, as judges, and as a society, we fumble… — Jodi Picoult Copy Share Image
“What do parents look like?" "You know how the tightrope guy at the circus wants everyone to believe his act is an… — Jodi Picoult Copy Share Image
“It has taken me twenty-eight years to be able to admit that I'm glad I did not know my mother until now.… — Jodi Picoult Copy Share Image
The best parenting advice I ever got was from a labor nurse who told me the following: 1. After your baby gets… — Jodi Picoult Copy Share Image
Grief is a curious thing, when it happens unexpectedly. It is a Band-Aid being ripped away, taking the top layer off a… — Jodi Picoult Copy Share Image
“What could you give me," I ask, my voice shaking, "To make me forget . . . that you forgot about me?"… — Jodi Picoult Copy Share Image
“She had smiled her way through the births and had offered the new mothers the support and the medical care that they… — Jodi Picoult Copy Share Image
“Every life has a soundtrack. There is a tune that makes me think of the summer I spent rubbing baby oil on… — Jodi Picoult Copy Share Image
There are all sorts of experiences we can't really put a name to...The birth of a child, for one. Or the death… — Jodi Picoult Copy Share Image
“It's okay to kiss people when you love them." "I don't love your mother," I tell her. "Not like that, anyway." "You… — Jodi Picoult Copy Share Image
I have never understood why it is called losing a child. No parent is that careless. We all know exactly where our… — Jodi Picoult Copy Share Image
“My mother and Joe have a lovers' shorthand, an economy of gestures that comes when you are close enough to someone to… — Jodi Picoult Copy Share Image
Where did you go?" "To the end of the driveway," my mother says. "I was nine months pregnant; that was the maximum… — Jodi Picoult Copy Share Image
“Babies don't come with instruction booklets. You'd learn the same way we all do -- you'd read up on dinosaurs, you'd Google… — Jodi Picoult Copy Share Image
From that point of view, I realized that my hole was not miles deep after all. My father, in fact, could stand… — Jodi Picoult Copy Share Image
Tradionally, parents made decisions for a child, because presumably they are looking out for his or her best interests. But if they… — Jodi Picoult Copy Share Image
and another claimed it was inherited through a parent who was a carrier of the defective gene. I had always assumed the… — Jodi Picoult Copy Share Image
“My father looked right at me, but he didn't answer. And his eyes were dazed and staring through me, like I was… — Jodi Picoult Copy Share Image
“A level of a house, his father has told him, is called a story. Nathaniel likes that. It makes him feel like… — Jodi Picoult Copy Share Image
“I didn’t want to invade his privacy; I didn’t want to fight with him; I didn’t want anyone else to ever hurt… — Jodi Picoult Copy Share Image
“It made me think of my mother, when she made her pie crusts. She'd prick little holes all over the place. So… — Jodi Picoult Copy Share Image
“What is a parent, really, but somebody who picks up the things a child leaves behind - a trail made of stripped… — Jodi Picoult Copy Share Image
I wondered how long it took for a baby to become yours, for familiarity to set in. Maybe as long as it… — Jodi Picoult Copy Share Image
But I think half the battle is figuring out what works for you, and I am much better at being a mother… — Jodi Picoult Copy Share Image
Sara: "You are so brave," I tell her, and then I smile. "When I grow up, I want to be just like… — Jodi Picoult Copy Share Image
parenting isn't a noun but a verb--an ongoing process instead of an accomplishment. And that no matter how many years you put… — Jodi Picoult Copy Share Image
“I think about following her, but I want to give Zoe a minute alone with her mother. I want them to have… — Jodi Picoult Copy Share Image
When you're a parent you find yourself looking at the unknown that is your child, trying to find a piece of yourself… — Jodi Picoult Copy Share Image
“He swaggered over to my mother, and kissed her so long and slow that my own cheeks started to burn, because I… — Jodi Picoult Copy Share Image
“Metz remembers the red dress his mother wore, the boxy suit that hung on his frame, the surprising sound of his voice… — Jodi Picoult Copy Share Image
When you're pregnant, you can think of nothing but having your own body to yourself again; yet after giving birth you realize… — Jodi Picoult Copy Share Image
“Let me guess," Eric says, "You never meant for it to happen." "Hell, yes, I did. I've wanted her since you two started dating."… — Jodi Picoult Copy Share Image
“It’s the difference between dancing along the eggshell crust of acquaintance and diving into the messy center of a relationship.” — Jodi Picoult Copy Share Image
Because hate's just the flip side of love. Like heads and tails on a dime. If you don't know what it feels like to… — Jodi Picoult Copy Share Image
Some women are meant to change the world, while others are meant to hold it together. And then there are those of us who… — Jodi Picoult Copy Share Image
I love feeling loved. I don't love knowing that I will always come in second place. I love the fact that at least sometimes… — Jodi Picoult Copy Share Image
But there is a different between mending someone who's broken and finding someone who makes you complete. — Jodi Picoult Copy Share Image
“sometimes words are not big enough to contain all the feelings you are trying to pour into them. My” — Jodi Picoult Copy Share Image
The night is falling down around us. Meteors rain like fireworks, quick rips in the seam of the dark... Every second, another streak of… — Jodi Picoult Copy Share Image
“When she had packed all the artifacts that made up their personal history into liquor store boxes, the house became strictly a feminine place.… — Jodi Picoult Copy Share Image
“Maybe who we are isn't so much about what we do, but rather what we're capable of when we least expect it.” — Jodi Picoult Copy Share Image
“Here's what I hadn't realized : the mother you haven't seen for almost 36 years isn't your mother. She is a stranger. Sharing DNA… — Jodi Picoult Copy Share Image
My brother believed in all sorts of mythical creatures: pixies, dragons, werewolves, honest men. — Jodi Picoult Copy Share Image
