1. This is important to remember. Love isn't like pie.

You don't need

to divide it among all your friends and loved ones. No matter how
much love you give, you can always give more. It doesn't run out,
so don't try to hold back giving it as if it may one day run out. Give
it freely and as much as you want.

2. She asked the question even though she didn't really want to hear
the answer. It was a no-win situation since she already knew. If he
told the truth, she'd get confirmation of her worst fears. If he lied,
she'd know that he wasn't who she thought he was which would be
almost as bad. Yet she asked the question anyway and waited for
his answer.

3. "Explain to me again why I shouldn't cheat?" he asked. "All the

others do and nobody ever gets punished for doing so. I should go
about being happy losing to cheaters because I know that I don't?
That's what you're telling me?"

4. I checked in for the night at Out O The Way motel. What a bad
choice that was. First I took a shower and a spider crawled out of
the drain. Next, the towel rack fell down when I reached for the
one small bath towel. This allowed the towel to fall halfway into
the toilet. I tried to watch a movie, but the remote control was
sticky and wouldn’t stop scrolling through the channels. I gave up
for the night and crawled into bed. I stretched out my leg and felt
something furry by my foot. Filled with fear, I reached down and
to my surprise, I pulled out a raccoon skin pair of underwear. After
my initial relief that it wasn’t alive, the image of a fat, ugly
businessman wearing raccoon skin briefs filled my brain. I jumped
 out of the bed, threw my toothbrush into my bag, and sprinted
towards my car.

5. There was something in the tree. It was difficult to tell from the
ground, but Rachael could see movement. She squinted her eyes
and peered in the direction of the movement, trying to decipher
exactly what she had spied. The more she peered, however, the
more she thought it might be a figment of her imagination. Nothing
seemed to move until the moment she began to take her eyes off
the tree. Then in the corner of her eye, she would see the
movement again and begin the process of staring again.

6. He looked at the sand. Picking up a handful, he wondered how

many grains were in his hand. Hundreds of thousands? "Not
enough," the said under his breath. I need more.

7. April seriously wondered about her sleeping partner choices. She

looked at her bed and what a mess it had become. How did she get
to the point in her life where she had two dogs, three cats, and a
raccoon sleeping with her every night?

8. She had been told time and time again that the most important
steps were the first and the last. It was something that she carried
within her in everything she did, but then he showed up and
disrupted everything. He told her that she had it wrong. The first
step wasn't the most important. The last step wasn't the most
important. It was the next step that was the most important.
9. They told her that this was her once chance to show the world what
she was made of. She believed them at the time. It was the big
stage and she knew the world would be there to see. The only one
who had disagreed with this sentiment was her brother. He had told
her that you don't show the world what you're made of when they
are all watching, you show that in your actions when nobody was
looking. It was looking more and more like her brother was
correct.

10. She glanced up into the sky to watch the clouds taking shape. First,
she saw a dog. Next, it was an elephant. Finally, she saw a giant
umbrella and at that moment the rain began to pour.

11.There was a time when he would have embraced the change that
was coming. In his youth, he sought adventure and the unknown,
but that had been years ago. He wished he could go back and learn
to find the excitement that came with change but it was useless.
That curiosity had long left him to where he had come to loathe
anything that put him out of his comfort zone.

12. The headphones were on. They had been utilized on purpose. She
could hear her mom yelling in the background, but couldn't make
out exactly what the yelling was about. That was exactly why she
had put them on. She knew her mom would enter her room at any
minute, and she could pretend that she hadn't heard any of the
previous yelling.

13. Was it enough? That was the question he kept asking himself. Was
being satisfied enough? He looked around him at everyone
 yearning to just be satisfied in their daily life and he had reached
that goal. He knew that he was satisfied and he also knew it wasn't
going to be enough.

14. There was only one way to do things in the Statton house. That one
way was to do exactly what the father, Charlie, demanded. He
made the decisions and everyone else followed without question.
That was until today.