People are like animals. Some are happiest penned in, some need to roam free. You go to recognize what's in her nature and accept it.

The dangerous falls were the ones that happened so fast you didn't have time to react

You didn't need a college degree to become one of the people who knew what was really going on. If you paid attention, you could pick things up on your own.

Don't worry, God understands,' Mom said. 'He knows that your father is a cross we must bear.

One time I saw a tiny Joshua tree sapling growing not too far from the old tree. I wanted to dig it up and replant it near our house. I told Mom that I would protect it from the wind and water it every day so that it could grow nice and tall and straight. Mom frowned at me. "You'd be destroying what makes it special," she said. "It's the Joshua tree's struggle that gives it its beauty.

My life is not just about the past.

I could see why Archimedes got all excited. There was nothing finer than the feeling that came rushing through you when it clicked and you suddenly understood something that had puzzled you. It made you think it just might be possible to get a handle on this old world after all.