“Last night I had a nightmare. That me and someone I cared a lot about were playing a game in a pool. We'd take turns submerging ourselves under the water while the other person kept time.At one point it felt like the other person might be drowning, so  I jumped in to pull her up. She smiled and laughed and pushed me away. Then she turned blue and died. I could not resuciate her.I woke up at 3, sweating, in shock and pain. Frightened. But then I realized it was only a dream. But then I realized it was just like real life...Sometimes people we care about play risky games and then don't want our help. There is nothing we can do for them, no matter how much we care...”

“There are some that criticize and insult because they feel my views of how we should treat one another are too conservative. Others try to attack me for being too liberal. As for me, I don't take it personally... It just means I am doing something right. For... I don't stand for any political party nor am I interested in politics. I care about Constitutional, Civil and Human rights. I care about my fellow brothers and sisters. Depression is anger turned inward... and vice-a-versa.”

“Sometimes we need to do things we'd rather not do, in order to get the peace that we need; to look after our own well-being and to return to a healthy state. Decisions we may make may hurt others at times. Sometimes it hurts us too. I have found myself in situations like this recently. It a hard choice. But truly, there are times that we have to take care of ourselves. Sometimes there are no good choices, just painful ones... Sometimes that's just how real life is.”

“Human kindness is totally unfair. We don't live in a caring or generous world, yet we try to be kind and caring to others. We know the world is out to burn us, and it gets us in anyway it can. I'm not a fool. But still, we try not to burn each other. We are kind people in an unkind world. How do you pretend you don't know about something, after you see it? How do you act like you don't need something, when you are hurting? How do you even the score and walk off a with a clean conscience? You can't! Our only real choice is kindness.”

“My mother would always ask us if anyone wanted to learn how to cook or to sew or to iron clothes. I always ran to her—“Me! Me! Me!” So, my mom would teach me. I secretly feared that I might be condemning myself to a life of sissyhood. One day she said it was good that I learned these things because I was never going to be strong or handsome or smart or popular like my older brother, Jesús. He was “el molde” (the mold) I would never be a good copy of him. She said that I might never find a girlfriend or get married—so it was good that I was learning to take care of myself. It freaked me out. I wanted to be strong, handsome, smart, and popular like my brother, Jesús. I never felt like I was. I was just a bad copy...”

“Over the past 8 years, I have stripped my life down. I don’t need as much as I thought I did. It was hard at first to make that change. I had to have faith and patience. And so, I did. Now, I have God and great people in my life. Everything else just seems to follow. Sometimes we don’t understand about the need to live more simply. We can make appointments all day long, 7 days a week. We can even schedule and plan for our deaths. I was fortunate to be freed to really be myself again, while there is still time and something left of me. And now, up here, there’s nothing but me (and Kilo) and the sky and a million billion stars. And once again, I am free to dream...”

“There is nothing I would not do for those who I care about. I have no notion of loving people by halves, it is not my nature. I only know 100%.”