That is your legacy on this Earth when you leave this Earth: how many hearts you touched.

I grew up in this era where your parents' friends were all called aunt and uncle. And then I had an aunt and an aunt. We saw them on holidays and other times. We never talked about it, but I just understood that they were a couple.

When I was a child, our summer days were spent swimming; chlorine in my hair was like perfume to me.

You know, if you hang around this earth long enough you really see how things come full circle.

My father's body lies in a stone tomb high on a hill. People walk by, pause, think their own thoughts about him and move on, back to their own lives. I can never move on. He is everywhere.

Laura Bush went on national television during the week of my father's funeral and spoke out against embryonic stem cell research, pointing out that where Alzheimer's is concerned, we don't have proof that stem-cell treatment would be effective.

I think that nothing teaches you more about life than death and dying.