Time goes too quickly. This is the advice that my mother should have given me from her hospital bed. Instead of vague, unknowable quips like "Be careful what you wish for," she should have told me time slides away on a hillside of loose shale and takes everything in its path - dreams, opportunities, hopes. And youth. It takes that fastest of all.

One thing I can tell you for sure is this: we only regret what we don't do in life.

What I know now about life is this: your mother is a part of everything you do and everything you are.

As mothers and daughters, we are connected with one another. My mother is the bones of my spine, keeping me straight and true. She is my blood, making sure it runs rich and strong. She is the beating of my heart. I cannot now imagine a life without her.

This is the problem with forever friends. They know too much.

Some stories don't have happy endings. Even love stories. Maybe especially love stories.

I guess no one stays friends for more than thirty years without broken hearts along the way.