It’s not that I’m a drunk, I barely drink. And it’s not that I don’t want to remember, I mostly do. It’s that my brain is wired for the present. By vocation, I’m an improviser. A person trained to pay attention to the here and now".
-- Heather (Prologue paragraph 2)

Importance: This quote represents Heather's insecurities. When Heather thinks about the future of her life, the possibilities are inherently uncertain. She has no idea whether or not her daughter's father will stay around to help her raise the child, or whether she will need to face motherhood on her own. For this reason, the prospect of remembering all past events and thinking about how they will connect to the future is more painful and stressful.

I’d never stopped to consider happiness as anything other than an assumed default state, a place to return to after the occasional thick...
-- Heather (chapter 1 paragraph 4)