Our Friendship Was Like Our Writing In

Whenever I Saw Her, I Felt Like I Had Been Living In Another Country, Doing Moderately Well In Another Language, And Then She Showed Up Speaking English And Suddenly I Could Speak With All The Complexity And Nuance That I Hadn't Realized Was Gone. With Lucy I Was A Native Speaker.

I Was Starting To Wonder If I Was Ready To Be A Writer, Not Someone Who Won Prizes, Got Published And Was Given The Time And Space To Work, But Someone Who Wrote As A Course Of Life. Maybe Writing Wouldn't Have Any Rewards. Maybe The Salvation I Would Gain Through Work Would Only Be Emotional And Intellectual. Wouldn't That Be Enough, To Be A Waitress Who Found An Hour Or Two Hidden In Every Day To Write?

If What A Person Wants Is His Life, He Tends To Be Quiet About Wanting Anything Else. Once The Life Begins To Seem Secure, One Feels The Freedom To Complain.

I Have Seven Step-siblings From My Mother's Second And Third Marriages. My Degree Of Closeness To My Step-siblings Varies Among The Seven But I Have A Great Sense Of Loyalty To All Of Them, Especially The Four From My Childhood. If Those People Needed My Help I Would Be There For Them.

We Have Different Kinds Of Intimacy With Many, Many People. I'm Disappointed By Well-written Novels That Only Deal With Two Or Three People.