My mother had no idea that her daughter would turn out to be a writer, but she would not let me go through a day of my childhood without music.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the importance of music in the author's childhood and its influence on her journey as a writer.
In this quote, Virginia Euwer Wolff reflects on the unanticipated impact that her mother had on her creative development. While her mother may not have envisioned her daughter becoming a writer, she recognized the essential role that music played in fostering a rich and inspiring environment during her formative years. This illustrates how seemingly small influences can shape a person's future in profound ways.
In practice
This quote can be used during a speech about the role of family in shaping career paths.
As authors evolve and try to trace the precedents that have shaped their work, it sometimes becomes a matter of identifying the shadowy figure in the back row of the mental photograph, or of grabbing at the tail of a memory that's just slipping out the window into thin air.
Your children live or die without you. No matter what we do, no matter how we agonize or obsess, we cannot choose for our children whether they live or die. It's a devastating realization, but liberating.
Our kids are reflections of us. How we interact with others, even in a hostile situation... how we respond and our children see that is how they are going to respond.
The moment a child is born, the mother is also born.
When you start about family, about lineage and ancestry, you are talking about every person on earth.
A mother deserves a day off to care for a sick child or sick parent without running into hardship - and you know what, a father does, too. It's time to do away with workplace policies that belong in a 'Mad Men' episode.
Of all my father's teachings, the most enduring was the one about the true measure of a man. That true measure was how well he provided for his children, and it stuck with me as if it were etched in my brain.
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