Includes bibliographical references.

Married love -- One doesn't always wish to converse on airplanes -- Still have the playbill -- Small talk at Evanston General -- Goner -- I come from a long line of modest achievers -- Why I'm so well read -- Mommy wants a glass of chardonnay -- Safety scissors -- I was not going to be your typical -- Why I'm switching salons -- I survived the blizzard of '79 -- Married love, II -- Your turn -- Returning from spring break, junior year at Notre Dame -- Small fry -- Orange-shaped hole -- 11. And I've been searching ceaselessly for you ever since, mon amour -- Heating and cooling -- "If you were born Catholic, you'll always be Catholic" -- Disharmony -- Bad break -- What I think about when someone uses "pussy" as a synonym for "weak" -- Low-budget car dealership commercial -- Nine months in Madison -- Proof -- The neighbor, the chickens, and the flames -- Married love, III -- Two phone conversations -- Another reason I love my mother -- Galore -- Home button -- Some childhood dreams really do come true -- Our friend the memorist -- The visitation -- Daughter, they'll use even your own gaze to wound you -- Married love, IV -- My father's reminiscences -- I knew a woman -- Now I glance up the first time they call my name -- Sweet nothing -- What I learned in grad school -- Expiration date -- Emulsionar -- When people bemoan the commodification of art -- Another missing chapter in the parenting handbook -- Pass the vodka -- The grief vacation -- When they grow up -- A reckoning of kisses -- Salvage -- Married love, V -- Addendum to "Salvage".