“The grandchildren keep us engaged without a moment’s peace for hours on end. It’s invigorating, honestly.”

“Mark—a slow-moving, avid browser and generous spender—and I—a hermit and a miser (but really quite a hoot once you get to know me)—do not shop well together.”

“Fred dared Mark to ask out their waitress, betting five dollars that she was too snooty to go out with him. … Reader, that snooty waitress was me.”

“I plugged in the clippers, cinched a towel around Mark’s neck until he made a slight gurgling noise, and made my first pass, just behind his left ear…”

“What says love more than doing what your wife wants—especially when it means so much to her sense of cultural identity?“

“It never ends.”