Part of me aches at the thought of her being so close yet so untouchable, but her story and mine are different now. It wasn't easy for me to accept this simple truth, because there was a time when our stories were the same, but that was six years and two lifetimes ago.

You think you know me, but I'm not sure that even I know who I am anymore.

Would you stop thinking about what everyone wants. Stop thinking about what I want, what he wants, what your parents want. What do you want?

You're a wonderful person, Jamie. You're beautiful, you're kind, you're gentle...you're everything that I'd like to be. If people don't like you, or they think you're strange, then that's their problem.

Beauty might prevail in the very short term, but in the medium and longer terms, cultural norms - primarily those values and norms influenced by family - were more important.

God is the most important thing in our lives. I suppose that's true of everybody's lives, whether or not they want to believe it.

The truth is, the world isn't easy for any of us. It never has been and it never will be.