All I could do is lie there and think about how much her voice changed when she asked me if she was pretty, and how much she changed when I answered.

I wanted to laugh. Or maybe get mad. Or maybe shrug at how strange everyone was, especially me.

I didn't know that other people thought things about me. I didn't know that they looked.

When I was driving home, I just thought about the word 'special'. And I thought the last person who said that about me was my Aunt Helen. I was very grateful to have heard it again. Because I guess we all forget sometimes. And I think everyone is special in their own way. I really do.

You get the right collection of people together and you get the atmosphere together that it is very free where there is no judgment. If you create an atmosphere that is very open you steer the ship.

I think they were afraid that some of us would try to kill ourselves or something because they looked very tense and one of them kept touching his beard.

As people get older, we all know, you get married and you have a child and that becomes your family, but when you're 16 years old, especially, your family is your friends.