The air was swollen with music, shouting, and something I could not quite place- a feeling of happiness, but happiness with an edge, a sense of joy that was all the more meaningful because it was so fleeting.
This is not something anyone can teach you. Heartbreak you must learn on your own.
So self-assured were they all by nature that it never occurred to me to doubt that their perfection was predetermined by forces I did not understand. They were all royalty. They were all gods. They were all broken.
I’m sorry,’ I whispered. I didn’t know whether I was sympathizing with her broken heart or apologizing for a family who had had theirs broken, too.
Heartache, guilt, loss, grief, these things, too, are monsters.
Even knowing, as I do now, that grace, power, and, yes, love can hide the darkest elements of the human heart, I would do it all again.
Childhood is not all candy stores and recess; it’s frustrations and confusions, too.
The hours were long, but the days were short, and as much as I willed it to never come, the end of summer arrived anyway.
I think inspiration is strongest when I find a balance between observation and participation. You can’t write about what it means to dance by watching from the bleachers.
But if love can be funny and capricious, it can also be strong enough to seem like a sign of insanity.