That there were other worlds, invisible, unknown, beyond imagination even, was a revelation to him.

I love to swim, and I love being near water.

It's funny how things seem different, suddenly.

A moment might be a thousand different things.

It wasn't right. He knew that, but it was like falling: once you started you couldn't stop until something stopped you.

He fished in his pocket for his keys and instead pulled out the last geode, gray and smooth, earth-shaped. He held it, warming in his palm, thinking of all mysteries the world contained: layers of stone, concealed beneath the flesh of earth and grass; these dull rocks, with their glimmering hidden hearts.

This was her life. Not the life she had once dreamed of, not a life her younger self would ever have imagined or desired, but the life she was living, with all its complexities. This was her life, built with care and attention, and it was good.