How much do you love me?' Midori asked. 'Enough to melt all the tigers in the world to butter,' I said.

It was a short one-paragraph item in the morning edition.

Life is not like water. Things in life don't necessarily flow over the shortest possible route.

Don't let thoughts of me hold you back. Just do what you want to do. Otherwise, I might end up taking you with me, and that is the one thing I don't want to do. I don't want to interfere with your life.

They put up with such strenuous training, and where did their thoughts, their hopes and dreams, disappear to? When people pass away, do their thoughts just vanish?

The worst thoughts usually strike in the dead of the night.

But who can say what's best? That's why you need to grab whatever chance you have of happiness where you find it, and not worry about other people too much. My experience tells me that we get no more than two or three such chances in a life time, and if we let them go, we regret it for the rest of our lives.