[Johanna has survived a serious heart attack and is recuperating at home.] Willa Cather says happiness is being dissolved in something great and complete. Wrong! Happiness lies in feeling part of ordinary things — my dresser and night table, recumbent bike, TV, our green wicker laundry hamper, Artie’s sheepskin slippers with their flattened backs, left on the carpet by the radiator.
                     — Hugh Nissenson, The Days of Awe