If I loved someone enough, I would go anywhere in the world with them." —Staggerlee

Seems like every time life starts straightening itself out, something's gotta go and happen.

Sometimes it seems as though not a moment has moved, but then you look up and you're already old or you already have a household of kids or you look down and see your feet are miles and miles away from the rest of you—and you realize you've grown up.

Mama says it's okay to be on the quiet side—if quiet means you're listening, watching, taking it all in.

Lately, I'd been feeling like I was standing outside watching everything and everybody. Wishing I could take the part of me that was over there and the part of me that was over here and push them together—make myself into one whole person like everybody else.

I'm always wondering if he'll return. Sometimes I pray that he doesn't. And sometimes I hope he will. I wish on falling stars and eyelashes. Absence isn't solid the way death is. It's fluid, like language. And it hurts so much...so, so much.

I'm still afraid. I'm still afraid every day.