--I BET YOU CAN TELL I’M HAVING A LOT OF DIFFICULTY

…Yesterday, three deer sauntered out onto the front lawn and traipsed around in the edge of the lake.  They hung around for quite a while, so serene and aware.  It was a beautiful sight.  I wish you could have seen them.

…In a way, choosing the people we want in our life is the closest we ever come to controlling our own destiny.

…How do you measure a year in the life?  I listened to the Rent soundtrack while running on the treadmill.  Hadn’t heard it in a while.  Rent and Les Miserables always give me chills.

…I didn’t know what to do with it—hide it, store it, run from it, let it slice me some more—so I put all that pain into my writing.

…You’re always going to fly away, because you can.  That’s what the other birds told me.

…I feel the pains of my father in my soul, and the sins of my mother who will not let me go.

…There’s a lot more to the ending of a story besides the ending of a story.  And sometimes the story doesn’t ever actually end.

…Being a parent, or a lover, means you have to set yourself aside, and that’s how it should be.

…It’s possible to feel very scared and safe all at the same time.  When I realized that, is when I stopped hating the people who were supposed to love me, but didn’t.

…That’s the story of my life—always searching for what is truly right.

…I don’t want to be the reason for your sadness, and so I stay here, silent, while you’re there, living.

…Maybe we should bask in the glory of our problems.  Jump in the bird bath of all our difficulties and splash around, get each other soaking wet.

…Some people play for the power.  Some people live for the fortune.

…This is how we stay alive, I said to the dog.  We stay together.  We remind each other to breathe.

…I listened to my ear this morning and it said, “You are really something else.  Go for it.”

…I will go down bleeding if that’s what it takes to make you see me as I really am.

…I won’t say a word.  They’ve all been said before.  Instead, I’ll touch you there.  I’ll write everything with an inaudible whisper on your back until your skin puckers and your pulse races.  And what’s weird about all this is it has nothing to do with sex.

…And all I remember is your back, what it looked like as you walked out that door.

…But in your dreams, whatever they may be, dream a little dream of me.

…Please take the words away.  Carry them to someone in need of a song.

…Don’t worry about me, I’ve just got a little sand in my eyes is all, but I’ll take that hug now.

--TODAY I LEAN ON THAT BAD HABIT CALLED SURVIVAL

…The problem is there’s too much to worry about, and I’ve learned it’s best not to discuss a problem in the presence of a problem.

….Here’s some advice my son passed onto me just now:  Pain is inevitable, but suffering is optional.

…When you don’t understand the words, you actually have to listen to what the other person is saying.

…To be honest, I’m kind of hoping you fail again, and I know how that makes me look.

…That’s the kind of stuff that scares me—not being able to remember names, the titles of songs or shows.

…I wish I knew how it happens, why it happens—those depressing days that seep through so insidiously.  The sun is up, there’s glory everywhere, and still I can find it.

…A kite loosed from its string outpaces its shadow.

…I have always been a tangle of tongue and petty want.  But aren’t you just the same?

…I have been going through book after book, pushing the sounds out through my teeth, inspecting the slivers for any possible answers.

…The better a life, the more sadness it leaves.

…Stories keep me humble, not that I need help in that regard.  Stories keep me sane, and in that regard, I need lots of assistance.

…Sometimes faith feels too far away to be of any use, but what else are you going to grab onto?

…Sometimes faith feels so near I can hold it between my chattering teeth.

…I am not the fat egg I claim to be, but rather a punched jaw.

…We’d be better off, if only those delicate emotions had felt more hypothetical.

…The may fly has a life-span of eighteen hours.  It spends that entire time laying eggs for the next generation.  May flies know the answer because they never even have to ask the question.

…If you get the motions right, motives will follow.  That is faith.

…It’s best not to read poetry when you’re in a blue mood.  Definitely not Plath.  There are other kinds of torture far swifter and less grizzly.

…One way to bury something is to bury it forever, though that’s the hardest part.

…Like the headless grasshopper and his still-twitching legs, I’m learning how much of myself I don’t actually need.

…The boat I’m am building will never be done.

…Dear God,

I’m sorry.  I’m sorry.  This may be me at my best.