As Isabel acted out her date, both of them laughing, I stayed in the kitchen, out of sight, and pretended she was telling me, too. And that, for once, I was part of this hidden language of laughter and silliness and girls that was, somehow, friendship.

In midair, dangling lost above the world.

But those words were only the middle of the story. There was a beginning here, too.

Fine...a word that you said when someone asked how you were but didn't really care to know the truth.

Growing up means :propelling yourself forward into whatever lies ahead, one turn of the wheel at a time.

Sure, there was no guarantee any of these things would actually happen as he envisioned. But maybe that wasn‟t the point.It was the planning that counted, whether it ever came to fruition or not.

but accepting help doesn‟t have to mean giving up control.