You begin always knowing nothing. You remain forever an amateur, a first timer.

no reason to mention my peculiarities, my wandering in the maze these many years, shut away from sight. and from love, too.

Everyone struggles against despair, but it always wins in the end. It has to. It's the thing that lets us say goodbye.

I have a good memory for early life. My visual memory is good about childhood and adolescence, and less good in the last 10 years. I could probably tell you less what happened in the last 10 years. I remember what houses looked like, sometimes they just pop into my head.

Grief is natural,' she said. 'Overcoming it is a matter of choice.

I had a briefcase at one point, but it was a kind of 1980s New Wave briefcase. It was made of some kind of cardboard and it had metal hinges. It was kind of faux industrial looking, and I used to carry my books in it rather than a backpack. I didn't want to have normal student accoutrements.

The zipper opened all the way down our spines.