It's fine," I repeated. And whatever. It was fine. It had to be.

Do you know what your problem is? You can't live with the idea that someone might leave.

I pointed at the little kids goading each other to jump from rib cage to shoulder and Gus answered just loud enough for me to hear over the din, 'Last time, I imagined myself as the kid. This time, the skeleton.

One swing set, well worn but structurally sound, seeks new home. Make memories with your kid or kids so that someday he or she or they will look into the backyard and feel the ache of sentimentality as desperately as I did this afternoon. It's all fragile and fleeting, dear reader, but with this swing set, your child(ren) will be introduced to the ups and downs of human life gently and safely, and may also learn the most important lesson of all: No matter how hard you kick, no matter how high you get, you can't go all the way around.

The pure and simple truth Is rarely pure and never simple. What's a boy to do When lies and truth are both sinful?

Something about me has always liked the drama and inconvience of bad weather. The worse the better, really.

. . . Endlessness is a really strange idea in a universe that is defined by its endings.