“But in the end, fighting for a love that was already gone felt like trying to live in the ruins of a lost city.”

“Don’t keep fighting battles that are already lost.”

“Gone is not forgotten, but our lives cannot be a memorial. This city cannot be a memorial. This city has to be a city. Our lives have to be our lives.”

“In the end all you can hope for is the love you felt to equal the pain you've gone through.”

“Unconditional love. That's what this is. I love him, as is, fully. I've had to stop arm wrestling with the facts. Why me? Didn't I already have a big love once? And lost it? So why should I get it again? I've had to stop trying to look for cracks and flaws to prove that it's not as good as it seems. Because it's as good as it seems. Even when we fight, we fight inside the container of good.Somehow, through a flip of the coin, I ended up here. Feeling like somebody at the top of the heart-lung transplant recipient list. Damaged but invigorated and fucking lucky.”

“But cities aren’t like people; they live on and on, even though their reason for being where they are has gone downriver and out to sea.”