from the book, love is a mix tape

" love is so confusing: there's no peace of mind."

"love hurts. love stinks. love bites, love bleeds, love is the drug. the troubadours of our times all agree: they want to know what love is, and they want you to show them. but the answer is simple. love is a mix tape."

"its not human to let go of love, even when its dead."

"you tell yourself, ill get to the end of this. but theres no finish line, just more doors to pass through, more goodbyes to say."

"whatever i learn from this grief, none of it will take me any closer to what i want, which is renee, who is gone forever. none of my tears will bring her closer to me... the loss doesnt go away-it just gets bigger the longer you look at it."

" i lose, you lose, we lose; i have lost, you have lost, we have lost."

"after renee died, i assumed the rest of my life would be just a consolation prize. i would keep living, and keep having new experiences, but none of them would compare to the old days. i would have to settle for a lonely life i didnt want, which would always remind me of the life i couldnt have anymore. but it didnt turn out that way, and theres something strange and upsetting about that. i would have stayed in 1996 if i could have, but it wasnt my choice, so now i have to move either forward or back- its up to me. not changing isnt an option. and even though ive changed in so many ways- im a different person with a different life- the past is still with me every minute."

" nothing wrong with a lonely place as long as its private. thats why i never married. marriage is lonely, but it aint private."