Family Quotes in Wings

It's an unusual way to adopt a child these days, but hey, whatever works. Laurel knows it sounds a little unbelievable, so she tells David not to laugh before telling him about this part of her past. It's more believable than "the stork brought you" anyway.

David's home life is kind of interesting: He lives with his mom, and they each give each other space, and though he sees his dad every so often, they're not very close. It seems like even though David's still just a teenager, his mom gives him a lot of the same freedom an adult would have—freedom that she wants in return.

It's true, your genetic background determines a lot of stuff in your life (like when you're likely to go through puberty, which is what this tidbit is about). Of course, at this point in the book, neither Laurel nor her mom knows that Laurel's actually a faerie, hence unable to go through puberty in the same way a human would. It's nice that Laurel's mom is so understanding about her daughter being different and not freaking out over it… but at this point she also doesn't have any clue just how different Laurel is.

Laurel's mom has a long history with the land. Her ancestors grew up on it, which means it's been in the family for, like, a long time (over a century at least). So it's understandable that she might have trouble letting it go. What would it feel like to not be able to return to a place that you have so many memories based on?

A lot of mixed families have these kinds of conversations. Given that Laurel has been piecing together what it means for her to be a faerie instead of a human, it makes sense that she'd be curious about whether her childhood holds any clues. In fact, considering that most families tell and retell stories about the funny things their kids did while young, it's kind of surprising that there aren't more stories in their family about Laurel's quirks.

Ah, what a typical mom thing to do: Take a ton of pictures, the more embarrassing, the better. We totally get it, though. This is Laurel's first time in a public school, so it's probably also the first time she's gone to a dance. Moms like to document these sorts of things.

This conversation between Tamani and Laurel reveals about as much as we get to know about how faerie families work. Which is to say, not much. There's not a lot of info here, nor is there apparently much to faerie families. Since faerie babies grow from seeds and develop into pretty functional little beings right away, why would they need parents or daycare or grandparents to spoil them?

Laurel raises some valid points here: Not all families bond and end up staying together. What if she'd ended up in the foster system? What if her parents had been less understanding of her quirks, and tried to feed her normal human food that would've turned out to be poisonous to her? Luckily she ended up with an awesomely tolerant family, but still—a lot could have gone wrong.

Laurel's dad's illness is definitely one of the most traumatic parts of the book for her. Finding out that she's a faerie is pretty rocky, but facing the possibility of a parent dying shakes her up way more. We can't say that we blame her; her dad is pretty awesome, and losing him would completely change the way their family works.

Laurel's love for and loyalty to her parents is pretty amazing. Some people might chuck their human families if they found out they actually had a magical heritage that they could go be a part of (um, hi, Harry Potter), but not Laurel. She's sticking with her human folks, even if it means she can't be with Tamani yet… or ever?