I never knew life could be this beautiful and full. It seems impossible in every way that I could be this happy in a world with you gone, but I am. Improbably, dangerously happy.

“…I have spent the last year curved in around the shards of my heart, my hands clenched around every memory and moment I had with you, afraid of losing what little I possess. It’s time to straighten my shoulders, take a deep breath, and unclench my fists. Allow the fear to leave, so hope has a place to stay.”

I wonder if the darkness of this past year will make the brightness in my future shine more than it would have otherwise. If having been through the valley makes the mountaintop that much better. Silver linings don’t make the clouds disappear, they just help make them more palatable, right?

I can't wait to see you again. Only a few more weeks and we'll be traveling together. I haven't traveled with anyone in so long, and I'm not sure how I'll acclimate.

I'll try not to be too selfish.

The aching emptiness where you should be has been decorated with flowers, words carved in the walls, each a memento of the time we had or should have had. It doesn't carry quite the sting it used to, and somehow I also don't feel guilty.

Someday I hope this kindness I'm treasuring up will be able to come back out of me and touch another life of another person who is struggling to make it through the day.

Actually, most of Philly will be tomorrow. I plan on checking out all the Revolutionary War spots, including where the Declaration of Independence was signed as well as the Liberty Bell, and, you know, all the cool history places in Philly.

But I feel like there's a giant clock ticking down to when I will need to go home and face whatever my life will look like when this is all over.

Celebrating her birthday is the last thing on Bo's mind as she undergoes a muddy hike, a slippery fall, and a trip to the hospital. Still, a hotel stay and a letter to her dad make everything better.

I cannot imagine anything more soul transforming than being in these enormous caves, listening to the world’s largest musical instrument, and experiencing what really must be the most copacetic combination of nature and human ingenuity.

"It was one of the most rewarding things to read through the book and begin to see it with your eyes.

The things that caught your heart and changed you in some small way..."

I know deep in my soul that the pains and griefs that led me through the silly boys I dated and the men who thought they could control me, were leading me to this and him.

Trying to find a balance between living and grief, Bo celebrates her Mom’s first birthday since her death. A surprise visit from a friend makes the day one to remember.

I will say, and it’s a bit of a surprise to me, it’s kind of nice to take a break from sightseeing, and just relax. I’ve finished two books in the last week and I’m almost done with a third.

"...the sun rising over the ocean was a happy sight, the waves crashing and gulls crying, almost enough to make me close my eyes and dream of the Oregon coast.

I have nothing bad to say about the Florida coast, other than that it wasn't the Oregon coast."

Maybe the bell above my grave wasn't clapper-less after all, because how else would I have met and befriended all the people I have in my travels?

Maybe I just couldn't hear it ringing because of the six feet of earth between me and the open air.

It's a happy imagining for me to think of a distant and definitely fictional future where Nova and I live in the Willamette Valley, less than an hour from Meg and Tom, and somehow also less than an hour from Newport and Jasper.

I've decided to stay here an extra week. I don't have a good reason for it, since Nova will have to work, but there's something in the movement of this town that calls to me.

It was ten minutes of kindness, but definitely more than I expected or had earned. I'm glad I met Alex. I don't suppose he has any idea how much those ten minutes touched my heart.

"I know you don't want me to save you, but I hope you'll let me be here with you while you save yourself.”