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.

what shall we drink to?" "How about family?" Stacy said, showing up just in time to pour a fourth shot. "To those who are here, those who are gone, and those who are lost." and she clicked glasses with mom

Their friendship was more important than any relationship. Guys would come and go; girlfriends were forever.

In the sea of grief, there were islands of grace, moments in time when one could remember what was left rather than all that had been lost.

Thoughts - even fears - were airy things, formless until you made them solid with your voice and once given that weight, they could crush you.

From the first time we met, we knew everything that mattered about each other, didn't we? We just knew. I guess that's what best friends are: parts of each other.

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