“Next, Cli� says he has a wife named Sonja, who painted theroom so beautifully, which leads to our discussion about how great women are and howit’s important to treasure your woman while you have her because if you don’t, you canlose her pretty quickly—as God really wants us to appreciate our women.”

“She’s just a weird woman,” I say in response.“Aren’t they all?” Cli� replies, and we laugh some because women truly are hard tofigure out sometimes.”

“But the next time Nikki eats too many crabby snacks, I am going to tell her she did not eat too much and that she looks too skinny anyway; I'll say she needs to gain a few pounds because I like my women looking like women and not like 'Ms. Six O'Clock-straight up, straight down,' which is another term I learned from Danny.”

“I...have a woman in my arms who has suffered greatly and desperately needs to believe once again that she is beautiful.”

“People can be cruel,' he says with a sympathetic look that makes me trust him even more. And right then I realize that he is not writing down all my words in a file, which I really appreciate, let me tell you.”

“Why did You give us so many stories about miracles? Why did Yousend Your Son down from heaven? Why did You give us movies if life doesn’t ever end well?What kind of fucking God are You? Do You want me to be miserable for the rest of my life?”

“In my arms is a woman who has given me a Skywatcher's Cloud Chart, a woman who knows all my secrets, a woman who knows just how messed up my mind is, how many pills I'm on, and yet she allows me to hold her anyway. There's something honest about all this, and I cannot imagine any other woman lying in the middle of a frozen soccer field with me - in the middle of a snowstorm even - impossibly hoping to see a single cloud break free of a nimbostratus.”