A great man once wrote, "Absence diminishes small loves and increases great ones, as the wind blows out the candle and blows up the bonfire." If only I were as eloquent as Mr. de la Rochefoucauld...I miss you, I miss you, I miss you. And I want you. And I need your kiss. And your touch on my skin like a man needs water. Always.

Adversity in life does not rob your heart of beauty. It simply teaches it a new song to sing.

I know what it is to hope and pray so hard that you're sure God will answer your prayer just so you'll stop asking.

Death and loss, they plague you. So do memories. Like the Mississippi's incessant slap against the levees, they creep up with deceptive sweetness before grabbing your heart and pulling it under.

A life without rain is like the sun without shade.

The word that came to me now was "defiant." Because a person had to be defiant to be able to stand amid the wreckage of her life and instead of shaking a fist, pick up a hammer.

But I think sometimes a person has to be forced underwater to see if they're going to drown or swim.