And if your parents have you for a reason, then that reason better exist. Because once it's gone, so are you.

That's because you've never been one. You haven't spent years wearing someone else's clothes, taking someone else's name, living in someone else's houses, and working someone else's job to fit in. And if you don't sell out, then you run away... proving you're the Gypsy they said you were all along.

And if your parents have you for a reason, then that reason better exist. Because once it's gone, so are you.

My high school guidance counselor, Mrs. Inverholl, once had me take an aptitude test to figure out my future. The number one job recommendation for my set of skills was an air traffic accident investigator, of which there are fewer than fifty in the world. The number two job was a museum curator for Chinese-American studies. The number three job was a circus clown.

It was one thing to sacrifice your own life for someone else's. It was another thing entirely to bring into the mix a third party - a third party who knew you, who trusted you implicitly.

Anger, though, is too fierce a flame to last for long, and when it burned out, I was left numb and wondering.

You can make it dark, but I can't make it light.