My Friends

by Fredrik Backman

Becoming a parent? Someone said it’s an invisible tidal wave that hits you with such force that you lose your breath and never quite get it back. You spend your whole life gasping, someone else said, because it’s a love so immense that it squeezes the air out of your lungs.

Adults often think that self-confidence is something a child learns, but

little kids are by their nature always invincible, it’s self-doubt that needs to be taught.

When you get old, gravity pulls the corners of your mouth down, the road to a smile grows longer.

Being a parent is so strange, all our children’s pain belongs to us, but so does their joy.

that’s the worst thing about being a parent: that almost everyone does their best, but almost all fail regardless.