But mostly I wondered why the head could move so swiftly while the heart dragged its feet. I still loved him. It felt like anything else permanent that has gone missing; a lost tooth, a severed leg. You might know better, but that doesn’t keep your tongue from poling at the hole in your gum, or your phantom limb from aching.

Until this moment, I had not realized that someone could break your heart twice, along the very same fault lines.

The right idea is the one you can't stop thinking about; the one that's in your head first thing in the morning.

I know that the first person I kissed won't be nearly as important as the last person I kiss.

I think there are two different oceans - the one that plays with you in the summer, and the one that gets so mad in the winter.

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.

I always hated when my scars started to fade, because as long as I could still see them, I knew why I was hurting.