“I made sure to pay attention to everything I was doing. To be fully in the moment. Because that's all life is, really, a string of moments that you knot together and carry with you. Hopefully most of those moments are wonderful, but of course they won't all be. The trick is to recognize an important one when it happens. Even if you share the moment with someone else, it is still yours. Your string is different from anyone else's. It is something no one can ever take away from you. It will protect you and guide you, because it IS you. What you hold here, in your hand, in this box, this is my s”

“Do you ever think if people heard our conversations they'd lock us up?"All the time.”

“Everyone thinks I named my cat Mango because of his orange eyes, but that's not the case. I named him Mango because the sounds of his purrs and his wheezes and his meows are all various shades of yellow-orange.”

“Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a battle you know nothing about.”

“He looks up at me with watery eyes and asks, "How can you, of all people, say everything will be all right?"He has a point. I consider my answer. "Well, it's better than saying 'Keep on crying, I'm sure things will just get worse,' right?”

“They say the eyes are the window to the soul.”

“When I was your age I knew nothing about the world or my place in it. I figured I'd be someone's wife, then someone's mother. It never occurred to me to be someone myself.”

“I am not plain, or average or - God forbid - vanilla. I am peanut butter rocky road with multicolored sprinkles, hot fudge and a cherry on top.”

“The trick is that as long as you know who you are and what makes you happy, it doesn't matter how others see you.”

“When people see you're happy doing what you're doing, it sort of takes the power away from them to tease you about it.”

“Whereever you end up;" Jack whispered into my ear."I wish you clear skies. Always”