"I was tricked by memory into believing that life is a river of sorrows. Now I know, after committing memory to page, that it doesn't occupy our minds so much as our hearts. It's less about what happened, or if it happened at all, than it is about what our hearts can endure. Putting memory to paper unburdened my heart and delivered me to my own true life. I am now free. I offer you this faulty account of my family: My mother who left me when I was five years-old; my abuela (grandmother) and spirit guardian; and my grandfather, Pops, who raised me until I shot him and he stopped speaking to me. Here's what I know now--sometimes what you're left with is all you ever needed." excerpt from All the Leaving