I've always known I was gay, but it wasn't confirmed until I was in kindergarten. It was my teacher who said so. It was right there on my kindergarten report card: PAUL IS DEFINITELY GAY AND HAS VERY GOOD SENSE OF SELF.

This, I think, is how people survive: Even when horrible things have been done to us, we can still find gratitude in one another.

How do you commemorate a year? A paper anniversary, but we are the words written down, not the paper.

Love is so painful, how could you ever wish it on anybody? And love is so essential, how could you ever stand in its way?

If I lose it now, I will lose you, too. I know that. I hate it.

That's the question, isn't it?" you said one night. "Does death bring freedom, or is it the end of freedom?

If you start the day reading the obituaries, you live your day a little differently.