“A high point in a life lived at sea level, prone to flooding.”

“Looking backward through life, one can see the points of change like great locks through which one glides on a flood wave, so smoothly, on such irresistible power that one is hardly aware of any movement. But life is never the same again. One has gone through the lock and lives on a new level.”

“They stared at each other for several seconds. Finally, Mitch said, “Thanks for your high level of concern.” “It doesn’t quite live up to your high level of whining.”

“My life before the flood was manageable; during the flood it was chaos. The National Weather Service only reported river levels, and at times, crest predictions. It didn't report or predict everything else that could go wrong.”

“The most high level of freedom is death, when our bodies liberate our spirits in order to reach the transparent sea of light . Thus, do not fear death in your search for freedom.”

“We didn't talk about problems, or parents, or automobiles, or ambitions. We talked about life....And the sea was there, forty feet away and getting closer, and the sky over the sea, and the sun going down the sky. And it was cold, and it was the high point of my life. I'd had high points before.Once at night walking in the park in the rain in autumn.Once out in the desert, under the stars, when I turned into the earth turning on its axis. Sometimes thinking, just thinking things through.But always alone. By myself.This time I was not alone. I was on the high mountain with a friend. There is nothing, there is nothing that beats that. If it never happens again in my life, still I can say I was there once.”