Things are what they are and there's no point dwelling in the past or wondering what could have been.

I think the most well-adjusted people live in the present with an eye toward the future - I'm not among those.

But I have learned that you can't just create your own timetable and will it to come true.

There is no better audience for someone in love than someone in love.

Maybe that's what it all comes down to. Love, not as a surge of passion, but as a choice to commit to something, someone, no matter what obstacles or temptations stand in the way. And maybe making that choice, again and again, day in and day out, year after year, says more about love than never having a choice to make at all.

You can't quantify love, and if you try, you can end up focusing on misleading factors. Stuff that really has more to do with personality-the fact that some people are simply more expressive or emotional or needy in a relationship. But beyond such smokescreens, the answer is there. Love is seldom-almost never-an even proposition.

He nods, as if to acknowledge that endings are almost always a little sad, even when there is something to look forward to on the other side.