I pulled the oxygen tubes from my nostrils and raised the tube up over my head, handing it to Dad. I wanted it to be just me and just him.

How do you just stop being terrified of getting left behind and ending up by yourself forever and not meaning anything to the world?

I make a gesture that is intended to convey, "Hey, no hurry, talk as long as you'd like," and probably actually conveys, "Hey, look at me! I have spastic hands.

I believe humans have souls, and I believe in the conservation of souls.

My stomach sank. JP had come so close. His immigrant parents had sacrificed so much.

It always shocked me when I realized that I wasn’t the only person in the world who thought and felt such strange and awful things.

The book was turned to the page with Anne Frank's name, but what got me about it was the fact that right beneath her name there were four Aron Franks. FOUR. Four Aron Franks without museums, without historical markers, without anyone to mourn them. I silently resolved to remember and pray for the four Aron Franks as long as I was around.