But I have learned that you make your own happiness, that part of going for what you want means losing something else. And when the stakes are high, the losses can be that much greater.

Sweetened ice tea is one of the things I love about the South, right up there with homemade biscuits and cheese grits.

Things certainly aren't the way you imagine them when you're a kid and dreaming big dreams about what your life as a grown-up will look like.

Maybe the thing to do after you roll the dice-and lose-is simply pick them up and roll them again.

When I meet someone I like being with more than I like being alone, I'll marry her.

Really-nothing is unforgivable if you truly love someone.

There are people and places and events you'd prefer to forget or at least gloss over. In the end, you can slap a pretty label on it - like serendipity or fate. Or you can believe that it's just the random way life unfolds.