Redhead by the Side of the Road

by Anne Tyler

“The point I’m trying to make,” Ada said, “is it’s not so much about whether a person is messy or neat. It’s whether they’re accepting or they’re not accepting of the way things happen to be. What we accepting ones know to say is, ‘It is what it is, in the end.’” “Well, I call that pretty discouraging,” Micah said. “What’s the point of living if you don’t try to do things better?” Ada shrugged and handed a child a plate of dessert. “You got me there,” she said.