A letter is always better than a phone call. People write things in letters they would never say in person. They permit themselves to write down feelings and observations using emotional syntax far more intimate and powerful than speech will allow.

It is one of the strongest bonds, I think, that can spring up between people: sharing a passion for certain books and their authors.

I suspected, however, that I wasn't homesick for anything I would find at home when I returned. The longing was for what I wouldn't find: the past and all the people and places there were lost to me.

And who's to say that just because something lasts only a short time, it has little value?

I suppose that, after the passion of love, water rights have caused more trouble than anything else to the human species.