Don't worry. Here's the thing I've learned about pregnancy. Everything feels like a crisis and everything turns out to be heartburn.

Scratch a female inmate, I've discovered, and you'll usually find a girl whose mother had terrible taste in men.

According to Sarah, who had gone two years ago, prom was famous for being an overpriced disappointment where most people had no fun.

I've decided that it's possible to love someone for entirely selfless reasons, for all of their flaws and weaknesses, and still not succeed in having them love you back. It's sad, perhaps, but not tragic, unless you dwell forever in the pursuit of their elusive affections.

This is what we do, my mother's life said. We find ourselves in the sacrifices we make.

He had no idea how wonderful he was. How his hands were so beautiful she could hardly look at them. How his truest smile was crooked and lifted higher on the left side than the right, which made her feel like he might understand her better, her hemiplegic face that was all crooked half smiles, too. But it couldn't be denied. He was also slightly crazy. Maybe more than slightly.

I have learned that some people who look fine are more crippled than I am, by fears they can't explain. Other people are held back by shyness, or anger. In making friends, I see the way some people handicap themselves. I believe there are choices each of us make every single day. We can dwell on our limitations or we can push ourselves past them.

The real problem with his type of OCD -- chronic fear of hurting other people -- was that you thought so much about not running over children, not sideswiping pedestrians, not poisoning strangers with germs on your hands -- essentially not killing a world full of strangers -- that you ended up hurting the people you loved most. He saw that now.

I thought helping someone else might take me out of my own head for a while.

I've decided that it's possible to love someone for entirely selfless reasons, for all of their flaws and weaknesses, and still not succeed in having them love you back.