I've given lots of people chances. But there's only so much faith you can have in people.

funny how a beautiful song could tell such a sad story

All you could do was take on as much weight as you can bear. And if you're lucky, there's someone close enough by to shoulder the rest.

No relationship is perfect, ever. There are always some ways you have to bend, to compromise, to give something up in order to gain something greater.

Only a real asshole takes liberties with someone else's car stereo. That's serious.

And so we stood there in the kitchen, my mother and I, facing off over everything that had built up since June, when I was willing to hand myself over free and clear. Now I needed her to return it all to me, with the faith that I could make my own way.

From this distance, in the dimness, the model looked surreal, made up of parts filled with buildings, bordered by long stretches of empty space. It reminded me of the way cities and towns look when you are flying at night. You can't make out much. But the places where people have come together, and stayed, are collections of tiny lights, breaking up the darkness.