DELIA EPHRON

New Yorkers are born all over the country, and then they come to New York City and it hits them: Oh, that’s who I am.

As complicated as joint custody is, it allows the delicious contradiction of having children and maintaining the intimacy of life-before-kid s.

Your basic extended family today includes your ex-husband or -wife, your ex's new mate, your new mate, possibly your new mate's ex and any new mate that your new mate's ex has acquired.

In your standard-issue family, of which few remain, but on which our expectations are still based, there are parents and there are children. The way you know which are which, aside from certain size and age differences and despite any behavior similarities, is that the parents are the bossy ones.

For me, having it all - if one wants to define it at all - is the magical time when what you want and what you have match up.

if you are a stepparent, rush right out and get yourself a dog. Because it's very nice to have someone in the house that loves you.

One quarter of what you buy will turn out to be mistakes.

I have one rule I live by: Only do what you can do. That neans you're never looking outside for what's popular; you're always looking inside for what's true.

Someone will always tell you what you want to hear.

Preparing for the worst is an activity I have taken up since I turned thirty-five, and the worst actually began to happen.

Children are a house's enemy. They don't mean to be - they just can't help it. It's their enthusiasm, their energy, their naturally destructive tendencies.

In Los Angeles, by the time you're 35, you're older than most of the buildings.

It consists entirely of people who are not related by blood, many of whom can't stand each other.

Someone will always tell you what you want to hear.

Clothes have special power. I'll always remember the raspberry colored v-necked silk sweater I was wearing on my husband and my first date. If I hadn't been wearing that sweater that night, would any of it have happened?

I have one rule I live by: Only do what you can do. That neans you're never looking outside for what's popular; you're always looking inside for what's true.

For me, having it all - if one wants to define it at all - is the magical time when what you want and what you have match up.

One quarter of what you buy will turn out to be mistakes.

New Yorkers are born all over the country, and then they come to New York City and it hits them: Oh, that’s who I am.

As complicated as joint custody is, it allows the delicious contradiction of having children and maintaining the intimacy of life-before-kid s.

if you are a stepparent, rush right out and get yourself a dog. Because it's very nice to have someone in the house that loves you.

Preparing for the worst is an activity I have taken up since I turned thirty-five, and the worst actually began to happen.

in the family I grew up in, being called boring was like being called an ax murderer.

As for superpower: I wish I could eat a million pastries and not gain weight. I wish I were Pastry Woman.

I'm planning to give up worrying. I want to, but I'm worried I won't be able to.

There is something fantastic about getting divorced. Everyone should do it to experience the extraordinary sense of freedom after being in marriage jail.

writing is how I understand everything that happens. Writing is the only way I know to move on.

One cannot overstate the potential for hysteria on a movie set. Everyone always acts as if making the movie is as important as eradicating malaria.

Your basic extended family today includes your ex-husband or -wife, your ex's new mate, your new mate, possibly your new mate's ex and any new mate that your new mate's ex has acquired.

In your standard-issue family, of which few remain, but on which our expectations are still based, there are parents and there are children. The way you know which are which, aside from certain size and age differences and despite any behavior similarities, is that the parents are the bossy ones.

On the subject of spinach: divide into little piles. Rearrange again into new piles. After five of six maneuvers, sit back and say you are full.