I am remembering it now.

People get so frightened for no reason, but I'll tell you, to live with no purpose is a far more frightening proposition... You bring yourself to say yes when you always thought the only possible answer was no, and your whole world changes.

And that was the thing: you couldn't just stand there gawking at the world. A car slipped by. Then another. It was as if she'd stood frozen by the river of the world and gratefully stepped back into it, resuming her place... The world waited, cold, grim, alive, beautiful. There was no saying no to it.

Every family has one living patriarch or matriarch, the final arbiter and repository of ancient family history, and Nicole's Aunt Patti was the last woman standing.