Donated to the cause by generous souls on Tonkawa in Bar Nunn WY.

Through the blur, I wondered if I was alone or if other parents felt the same way I did - that everything involving our children was painful in some way. The emotions, whether they were joy, sorrow, love or pride, were so deep and sharp that in the end they left you raw, exposed and yes, in pain. The human heart was not designed to beat outside the human body and yet, each child represented just that - a parent's heart bared, beating forever outside its chest. ~Debra Ginsberg

Back to the available pile ~

... the place was clearly in need of a wrecking ball ... and now, because it was doomed, I wanted to give it a last token of care. We hadn't ever had time to keep house ... We had long ago stopped seeing the rust, the holes in the linoleum, the cracks and the water spots in the ceiling ... The house had given us a sense of history and belonging. I had always thought that it was benevolent, sheltering us, exerting a kind of love as we passed through. We had washed the walls when we first moved in; that was all we had ever done for it. ~ Jane Hamilton’s “A Map of the World”