It's one thing to fall in love. It's another to feel someone else fall in love with you, and to feel a responsibility toward that love.

I am starting to get tired of relying on words. They are full of meaning, yes, but they lack sensation. Writing to her is not the same as seeing her face as she listens. hearing back from her is not the same as hearing her voice. I have always been grateful for technology, but now it feels as if there's a little hitch of separation woven into any digital interaction. I want to be there, and this scares me. All my usual disconnected comforts are bieng taken away, now that I see the greater comfort of presence.

simon: that's disgusting! me: what's disgusting? simon: you know. you put your thing in the place where he, um, defecates.

You made me lose my appetite, Boomer." "My mom tells me that all the time. Your family must be just like mine!

exemplar, n. It's always something we have to negotiate- the face that my parents are happy, and yours have never been. I have something to live up to, and if I fail, I still have a family to welcome me home. You have a storyline to rewrite, and a lack of faith that it can ever be done. You love my parents, I know. But you never get too close. You never truly believe there aren't bad secrets underneath.

You think you know your possibilities. Then other people come into your life and suddenly there are so many more.

Luckily, I always travel with a book, just in case I have to wait on line for Santa, or some such inconvenience.