A Certain Loneliness: A Memoir (American Lives)

by Sandra Gail Lambert

was December, the annual fleecing of the Christians.

Or I believe too soon when someone describes with great enthusiasm the ramp she’s going to have built, and then time passes, and I come to understand, usually before she does, that it’s just talk. I will never leave cupcakes on her counter, so I assign a qualifier to our friendship. The system works, but still I have to break up with her in my heart.

Sure, it’s poison, but you reach a certain age and the phrase “long-term effects” has less meaning.