“Why is it that the most fundamental life lesson—LIVE!—is the only one I continually forget to put into practice?”

“I need to be more in the moment, like when I was wet and wild in the waves. Being in the moment—right now!—equals freedom. It can't be scrutinized, analyzed, rhapsodized, mythologized. Itcan't be desecrated, debated, prognosticated. Right now can only be lived. Isn't this the same message Itried to get across to the kiddies in the lecture that got me fired? Isn't this the same advice Gladdie gave me right before she died?Why is it that the most fundamental life lesson—LIVE!—is the one I continually forget to put into practice?”

“This is my new hobby. I watch my life depart minute by minute. I anticipate the end of everything and anything -- a conversation, a class, track practice, darkness -- only to be left with more clock-watching to take its place. I'm continually waiting for something better that never comes. Maybe it would help if I knew what I wanted.”

“Fortunately for me, I'm still evolving into the person I'm supposed to be. And though they don't know it yet, and may not come to accept it, I'm done living by their protocols or anyone else's. I'm the only one who will take credit for my successes. And I'm the only one who will take the blame for my mistakes. From now on, I live for me.”

“Why do you even put up with me?''I'm not putting up with you,' he said, softly. 'I'm loving you.”

“It kind of makes me wish that the worst thing that will ever happen to me would just hurry up and happen already. That way I could live the rest of my life in bliss, if only because I know how much worse things could be.”

“When I'm at school in the city, I don't feel particularly worldly or wise. It's only when I come back home that I remember exactly why I left.”