“When Pat asked me the life, he didn't mean just that I should travel and have fun, although that was certainly part of it. He also meant that there's a weight to all of our lives, and he didn't want me to be frivolous with mine. If was a tragedy that Pat's life - while fully lived - was cut short. But it's also a tragedy to live a long life that isn't meaningful.”

“[From Pat]I know someday you'll have the life you dream ...And, I know this direction will ultimately lead to happiness.However, despite what I know ...Regardless of our direction, dreams, or path ...I know we have each other and that I love you ...And that's all I need to know.Pat”

“Our lives should have depth, which means pushing ourselves out of our comfort zones and not taking the easy way out all the time.”

“Energy is what I had lived so long beside. Energy is who I had married - the energy that permeates life, that comes out of every pore and explodes into the world.”

“He was all of those things, of course, but none of those things.”

“But it isn't that I'm just Pat. I'm both Pat and the person who knows that being Pat is itself a sign of my sickness. I never totally lose sight of that difference, though the degree to which I'm aware I've regressed varies, and there are times when I don't know a life outside of Pat's child world. (103)”

“The tragedy of life is what dies inside a man while he lives.”