I learned long ago that loss is not only probable but inevitable. I know what it means to lose everything, to let go of one life and find another. And now I feel, with a strange, deep certainty, that it must be my lot in life to be taught that lesson over and over again.

I know too much; I've seen people at their worst, at their most desperate and selfish, and this knowledge makes me wary. So I am learning to pretend, to smile, to nod, to display empathy I do not feel. I am learning to pass, to look like everyone else, even though I feel broken inside.

I learned long ago that loss is not only probable but inevitable. I know what it means to lose everything, to let go of one life and find another. And now I feel, with a strange, deep certainty, that it must be my lot in life to be taught that lesson over and over again.

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

I've come to think that's what heaven is- a place in the memory of others where our best selves live on.

I have a lot of empathy for women who fit their writing into the crevices of their too-busy lives, as I once did.

And so it is that you learn how to pass, if you're lucky, to look like everyone else, even though you're broken inside.