Marriage is about becoming a team. You’re going to spend the rest of your life learning about each other, and every now and then, things blow up. But the beauty of marriage is that if you picked the right person and you both love each other, you’ll always figure out a way to get through it.

As hard as it was, as terrible and unfair as the way things turned out, i wouldn't have traded the few days i spent with him for anything

Not everything," he said. "Not the important things. My kids are safe. You're safe. That's all I really care about. This" - he said motioning - "is just stuff. Most of it can be replaced. It just takes time.

I've learned that memories can have a physical, almost living presence.

I knew even then how rare that kind of love is. Only the luckiest people get to experience it at all.

and there had been times when he wished he'd been born into a different family.

If conversation was the lyrics, laughter was the music, making time spent together a melody that could be replayed over and over without getting stale.