A new person in your life gives the rest of you a chance to be new, too. Your life can be whatever you want it to, from there on out. I leaned in and kissed and that is who I was to him, not shy, but bold. Not inhibited, but brave. I was that to him and so I kept being that. It was what I thought he wanted and what he was attracted to, and yet it was this, this exact thing I wasn't even really, that made him the most insecure.

You look so good," I say, and s***! Oh god, that's not what I meant. S***! "It looks good. The book.

She would bring you some great book because she was a book matchmaker, because she loved books the way other girls loved clothes.

At the root of every large struggle in life is the need to be honest about something that we do not feel we can be honest about. We lie to ourselves or other people because the truth might require action on our part, and action requires courage. We say we “don’t know” what is wrong, when we do know what is wrong; we just wish we didn’t. Art lets us tell the truth, but even art can be something to hide behind.

I thought I might cry, the way you do when someone gives you some kindness when you most need it but when it seems the most surprising thing.

Too often in my life, love has been defined as "humiliation with occasional roses".

so what brings you to the doctor today?" "hmm, im afraid i have the chronic desire to save people" "i know about that. i've got it too. maybe it's catching." "not catching enough