Safe, I decided, didn't leave much room for fun.

What was so miraculous about a relationship that was based more on my gratitude than on mutual self respect?

If art made you think, then this was Art. Staring at the ball, made of layers and layers of cloth, I wondered about the glass marble at its heart. What if you wanted to reach that marble? Make sure it was still whole? You'd have to remove the layers. You'd have to risk breaking the ball for a chance at freeing it. Fear, knowledge, certainty - you'd have to be willing to let them all go.

When the creative impulse sweeps over you, grab it. You grab it and honor it and use it, because momentum is a rare gift.

If there was one thing I refused to be, it was an insignificant footnote in some boy's history.

Come on, don't you ever stop and smell the coffee?

Maybe getting around in life was nothing but map-reading. A skill that required practice. A key to unlock where you wanted to go. A legend to show where you were.