Being a successful couple was learning what you were willing to compromise on, and what you weren't; learning when to stand your ground, and when to give it up; what was truly important enough to fight over, and what was just you being pissy. You learned each other's hot buttons, the places that hurt, or angered, when you pressed them. Love makes you learn where all the pitfalls are, and how to avoid them, or how to set them off.

Oh, no, a leopard blew up and plastered itself all over everything, but hey, animal print was in this year.

You did not bring down two of the royal guard in an unceremonious heap because the woman in the middle tripped.

was a clear, pale blue like the eyes of a Siberian husky dog. Human beings just didn't have eyes like that.

That's what you get for telling the truth. Someone calls you a liar. Most people will accept a likely lie to an unlikely truth. In fact, they prefer it.

By 17, I was submitting to publications and collecting my first rejection slips.

His parting shot to me had been, "I don't want to love someone who is more at home with the monsters than I am." What do you say to that? What can you say? Damned if I know. They say love conquers everything. They lie.