And despite everything I know now, I still believe, as I did when I was little, that there is an entire universe of things that my mother knows that I don't. I still believe that nothing truly bad can ever happen if my mother is around. I know it's not true. But still. It is true.

And so my hope for you, good boy, as you grow taller every day, is that you will learn to take good care of yourself, and you will learn to take good care of others-and, someday, you'll see how those two things are exactly the same.

Sometimes there is no way to hold your life together. Sometimes things just have to fall apart.

What matters most is how you respond to your heartbreaks and your disappointments and your fears. What matters most is who you become in response to them.

I like to write about people who are real and likeable. I like to write about people who tell their stories in that close and intimate voice we use with best friends. I love the closeness and honesty and vulnerability that come from characters who can talk that way.

Look for beauty in everything.

We build our lives in moments, and even the ones we can't remember become the story of who we are.