Serious relationships draw us away from the circle of friends that seemed so adequate, so fulfilling. Marriage cements these inward movements. Children draw partners closer, but they can also draw you further away from the friends and lives you once knew.

People don't think that leaving children alone is dangerous and therefore immoral. They think it is immoral and therefore dangerous.

I wonder if all love affairs, all marriages, all lifelong partnerships, aren't in some ways a turning away from the world.

Kim Brooks Quotes