I’m a screwed-up person who no longer knows how to communicate with the people I love. But I meant everything I told you in my letter. If I were your Nikki, I would have come back to you on Christmas Day, but I’m not Nikki. I know. And I’m sorry.

Life is not a PG feel-good movie. Real life often ends badly. Literature tries to document this reality, while showing us it is still possible for us to endure nobly.

You better watch out, or you're going to be defeated by pessimism!

I can always look up at the cosmos and marvel, no matter what happens. And when I look up at it, I feel as though my problems are small. I don't know why, but it always makes me feel better.

I believe in happy endings," I tell him, "And it feels like this movie has gone on for the right amount of time.

...I am now watching the movie of my life as I live it.

It hurts to look at the clouds, but it also helps, like most things that cause pain.