"In October of 2013, my mother called me from New Jersey and told me my grandfather was in the hospital. She talked for a few minutes, but I heard only fragments like: 'morphine' and 'no more treatments.' So I packed my car and drove north from Virginia."

"My blood flows faster when I get off the parkway
and see the glass buildings trying to touch heaven
and the bridges connecting Pittsburgh to my world."

"I remember hearing the 90s TV characters say
Oh no! I can pinch an inch!
and I hated them for it
because I could pinch at least 4."

“I enjoyed pouring my feelings and thoughts directly into 'you,' erasing the line between reader and author. But perhaps the truer reason why I wrote the story in second person is so I wouldn’t have to write it in first. By convention, this would be a first-person narrative, and originally that’s what it was; but then it read like a personal narrative, oozing narcissism. I, I, I. There’s enough narcissism in the world without me adding to it.”