I have always felt extremely weird. But I am very happy with my weirdnesses, and I want other people to be very happy with theirs.

Hey, Ocean Eyes,” my father said. “Where’d you go on us?

but, he also said it because part of him wanted more of her, this cold woman who was not exactly cold, this rock who was not stone.

Almost everyone in heaven has someone on Earth they watch, a loved one, a friend or even a stranger who was once kind, who offered warm food or a bright smile when one of us had needed it. And when I wasn’t watching I could hear the others talking to those they loved on Earth: just as fruitlessly as me, I’m afraid. A one-sided card cajoling and coaching of the young, a one way loving and desiring of their mates, a single-sided card that could never get signed.

I would like to tell you that I am, and you will one day be, forever safe.

Your first kiss is destiny knocking.

The sun came through the branches of the tree above her, and Ruth looked up past them. "I think she listens," she said, too softly to be heard.