We think stories are about getting money and security, but the truth is, it all comes down to relationships.

We didn't become the best of friends, but he was my best friend. By best friend I mean he was the best person for me to talk to. Every time I walked away from a beer or a lunch with him I was, somehow, a more centered person. He never let me control the conversation with distractions. He'd just laugh them off and repeat the question I was running from.

As long as you're willing to turn the other cheek with the mean ones, vulnerability can get you a wealth of friends.

We need 4 hugs a day for survival. We need 8 hugs a day for maintenance. We need 12 hugs a day for growth.

Better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.

Friends are angels who lift us to our feet when our wings have trouble remembering how to fly.

Marriages built on friendship are forever since they are built on companionship.

Her essay about the wedding ring was short. Kerr wrote: "Things are just things - they have no power to hurt or to heal. Only people can do that. And we can all choose whether to be hurt or healed by the people who love us." That was all. And that was everything.

One thing I have learned during these past few terrible years is that our grief and sorrow should be shared, not carried alone.

is it better not to fall in love at all, or to love someone for a little while, even if you have to say good-bye?

The wilderness is a place where we can lean on God and trust His promises, but it's also a place to discover that the arms He provides and the ears that listen to our fears sometimes belong to flesh-and-blood people.

The roots of this friendship that once nourished me in deep places now ache with a barren flow. The conversations and connections have been hollowed out and replaced with a stabbing throb of a pierced soul. The arrow dug deep.