Sam Reviews "The Last Lecture" by Randy Pausch - March 2014

I was touched by the parents allowing him to paint the walls.  My parents didn't allow that, but I could put up anything I wanted, but I always thought it was cool how Autumn had a bunch of hand painted things on the walls.

"When you're screwing up and nobody says anything to you anymore, that means they've given up on you."

I loved the bit about the stuffed animals.  I feel like I need to add that to my bucket list even though I suck at carnival games.  Such a sweet gesture and the irony of the giant elephant.

The part about him being an uncle made me tear up so bad!  Makes me wish I was closer to my cousins who knew my dad well.

"The brick walls are there to stop the people who don't want it badly enough.  They're there to stop the other people."
-But when do you have to choose to stop so something else can come into your life?

"I had fallen in love, even if she was still finding her way."

"I'm going to find a way to be happy, and I'd really love to be happy with you, but if I can't be happy with you, then I'll find a way to be happy without you."

I relate to the name thing.  I abhor being called Sammi but I can't stop my family and some choice people from being persistent.  It's not worth getting mad over anymore.

"If you can't (or won't) sort mail, where is the proof that you can do anything?"

Sam Reviews "Love Warps the Mind a Little" by John Dufresne

"I detested this banal and reprehensible behavior, but I also hated who I had become with Martha.  I would be nasty for no reason.  Often when she would speak, I'd respond with sarcasm.  Even when I knew I was doing this, I couldn't stop myself.  I was hurting her, and resenting her for somehow making me hurt her, so I'd lash out again.  Something had gone wrong in the marriage.  Maybe what went wrong was me.  We were in trouble, and I did something about it.  I took a risk and I left, so to speak.  I let myself be tempted away.  I could have waited until we punished each other more, I suppose, until Martha caught on and left me.  Or maybe this was all just the normal course of intimacy, like the falling away of physical love.  This is just what happens when two people are so close over so long a time.  Just a bump in the road."

"I knew I could have gone on for the rest of my life with Martha and been happy.  Maybe not ecstatic, but content, not fulfilled, maybe, but satisfied, secure, benevolent.  Still the easiest thing for me to do now was to go home, back to Martha.  Would this be fair if there was even a chance I might leave again?  Martha would take me back if I promised to change my ways.  But you know how long promises last.  Soon we'd find ourselves alone in a quiet room, uncomfortable.  Maybe I'd realize I'd been aloof, cold, and I'd try to be more loving.  But if you have to attempt love, can you be in love?"