“I feel like there are so many clichés about motherhood. It’s hard not to repeat what has already been said in various ways from the moment time began. And as I think about all the declarations that have been made about mother love, I realize it’s because motherhood is the thing in a woman’s life that catches her by total and complete surprise. . . . Even if we’ve dreamed of having babies of our own, there is nothing that prepares us for the way that moment cracks open our hearts and pours in the type of pure love we never knew existed.” ~ Melanie Shankle (from Sparkly Green Earrings: Catching the Light at Every Turn)