“He had you.""Well, he deserved better.”

“I wanted to say that I was sorry, but not for the obvious. I was sorry that I had turned out to be such a big disappointment. Sorry that I couldn’t make things better. Sorry that everything I touched turned to crap. Seeing Mom cry had torn me up. Until finally she said something. “What happened to your hair? Did you do that?” At that moment, I hated Britney Spears.”

“Dressed in new jeans, a light blue dress shirt and a red patterned tie, he stood at Heather’s grave with his eyes closed. Although I didn’t hear him, his lips were moving like he was praying. In the faint breeze, Mother Nature ran her fingers through his dark hair like I wanted to. He looked tall and strong, the way he used to, but somewhere along the way, without me, he’d stepped into the shoes of a man. And a part of me ached for those missing years.”

“It's better to die free than live life in a cage.”

“Stop questioning the tests that are put in your path. You're given only what you can handle. And those tests-making mistakes and figuring stuff out-that's what makes you stronger.”

“I don't know how to change and I'm not sure I want to.”

“The last thing I needed was a parting shot of Derek Bast's face -- God's best endorsement for birth control.”