I wondered if emotions were like menstrual cycles, if you get enough women together. Give it time, and everyone was crying.

Anyone can hide. Facing up to things, working through them, that's what makes you strong.

If you didn't always have to choose between turning away for good or rushing in deeper. In the moments that it really counts, maybe it's enough - more than enough, even - just to be there.

Well, it's true that I have been hurt in my life. Quite a bit. But it's also true that I have loved, and been loved. And that carries a weight of its own. A greater weight, in my opinion. It's like that pie chart we talked about earlier. In the end, I'll look back on my life and see that the greatest piece of it was love. The problems, the divorces, the sadness... those will be there too, but just smaller slivers, tiny pieces.

But as was so often the case, it was the one person missing who you thought about more than the ones who were right in front of you.

Self respect, Colie. If you don't have it, the world will walk all over you.

You know, I think I knew you for about three weeks before I ever really saw you smile. And then one day, Morgan said something and you laughed, and I remember thinking it was really cool because it meant something. You're not the kind of person who smiles for nothing, Colie. I have to earn every one.