"Those were the salad days- the halcyon years! The sleepless nights, the wailing babies! ... But it all slipped by. One minute Marlena and I were in it up to our eyeballs, and next thing we knew the kids were borrowing the car and fleeing the coop for college. And now, here I am. In my nineties and alone."

- p. 327, Water for Elephants.

Written by Sara Gruen.