She stroked my hair and told me I was beautiful, but I was old enough by then to know not to believe it anymore.

Teaching was great for me, because I got to show people how writing can really change the way you see not only yourself but the world.

Not for the first time, I wished both of us could just say what we meant. But that, like so much else, was impossible

You don't have to make things harder then they have to be just to prove a point.

Morgan sighed. "I," she announced, "am so pathetic." "You are not," I said. "I am." She went over and straightened the cling wrap, corner to corner. "Do you know how many times I've brought in devilled eggs? This is, like, the only time I haven't been sobbing and that's only 'cause I cried all night. And Norman," she said, her voice rising to a wail, "sweet Norman, always just acts so surprised to see the eggs, and pleased, and he never, once, has ever acted like he knew what they meant."

There was something so heavy about the burden of history, of the past. I wasn't sure I had it in me to keep looking back.

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.