Peter was, simply, what a person would look like if you boiled down the most raw emotions and filtered them of any social contract. If you hurt, cry. If you rage, strike out. If you hope, get ready for a disappointment.

Life was what happened when all the what-ifs didn't.

I wanted him to feel what I felt when I was with him: that incredible combination of comfort, decadence, and wonder; the knowledge that, with just a single taste of him, I was addicted.

Hopefully, more and more people will come to understand that a child who's "different from" is not one who is "lesser than."

I used to think I'd be just like them when I grew up, but I am not. And the thing is, somewhere along the way, I stopped wanting to be like them, anyway.

Teachers deserve respect," I explain. "Why do they get it for free, when everyone else has to earn it?

I look for places like me: big, hollow, forgotten by most everyone.