One of the things, and there are many, that I can never get used to about life is how interconnected we are. And when I am confronted with it, I always want to run away a little bit (or maybe a lot sometimes). There is opportunity for the most exquisite and the most painful experience right there all rolled into one. I don't just run away from the painful, but also the exquisite when I come too near it. And I want to keep people at arm's length both for my safety and for theirs. I want to be able to bear it all, but something primal inside screams for an illusory safe distance just the same.

So I dance with life like a 7th grader at his first dance, at arm's length, hoping neither of our feet get stepped on, and wondering what her perfume smells like and what it will feel like when someone better than me comes along and takes her hand.