Time constricts and flattens, you know. It's not evenly weighted. Certain moments linger in the mind and others disappear.

So is it just human nature to believe that things happen for a reason - to find some shred of meaning even in the worst experiences?

In my teens I fancied myself an artist; I hung out with the eccentric art teacher at my high school, painted still lifes and portraits and landscapes in watercolor and acrylics, took private lessons, won some blue ribbons for my earnest renderings. My lack of talent did little to dampen my enthusiasm. In college I thought I'd continue, but, like Salieri, I quickly realized that while I had the ability to appreciate art, I wasn't actually very good.

Time constricts and flattens, you know. It's not evenly weighted. Certain moments linger in the mind and others disappear.

It's human nature to want to think the best of others, but if you listen carefully, people will always tell you who they are.

I like the assumption that everyone is trying his best, and we should all just be kind to each other.

I love you," he writes again and again. "I can't bear to live without you. I'm counting the minutes until I see you." The words he uses are the idioms of popular songs and poems in the newspaper. And mine to him are no less cliched. I puzzle over the onionskin, trying to spill my heart onto the page. But I can only come up with the same words, in the same order, and hope the depth of feeling beneath them gives them weight and substance. I love you. I miss you. Be careful. Be safe.