I feel like, like, how you matter is defined by the things that matter to you. You matter as much as the things that matter to you.

We were just looking at ideas of each other.

The Colonel led all the cheers. Cornbread!" he screamed. CHICKEN!" the crowd responded. Rice!" PEAS!" And then, all together: "WE GOT HIGHER SATs." Hip Hip Hip Hooray!" the Colonel cried. YOU'LL BE WORKIN' FOR US SOMEDAY!

She was not an adventure, she was not a fine and precious thing. She was a girl.

There's no way of knowing that your last good day is Your Last Good Day. At the time, it is just another good day.

One of the pitfalls about writing about illness is that it is very easy to imagine people with cancer as either these wise-beyond-their-years creatures or these sad-eyed tragic people. And the truth is, people living with cancer are very much like people who are not living with cancer. They're every bit as funny and complex and diverse as anyone else.

there is no best and no worst, ...those judgments have no real meaning because there is only what is