There are so many things I can't believe. That people deserve what they get, both bad and good. That one day I'll live in a world where people are judged by what they do instead of who they are. That happy endings don't have contingencies and conditions.

I once heard someone on a bus say that this guy had gotten under her skin. And it struck me as a remarkable thought - that someone would affect you so deeply they'd always be a part of you.

Then Henry speaks again. "Did he do it?" I turn to him slowly. "Does it matter?

You can widen the feet of a compass, but they are still attached at the top; you can spin them away from each other, but you always wind up where you started.

Life, it turns out, goes on. There is no cosmic rule that grants you immunity from the details just because you have come face-to-face with a catastrophe. The garbage can still overflow, the bills arrive in the mail, telemarketers, interrupt dinner.

You can't look back - you just have to put the past behind you, and find something better in your future.

One person's trauma is another's loss of innocence.