In a winter ride, one question the protection offered by men: "Every so often there's a lifeguard's chair with lifesaving equipment leaning against it. A chrome lifesaving hook, a red and white lifesaving ring. The equipment seems theatrical among the icicles."

I find myself thinking back to what my mother said to me before I got married: love is an obligation that you fall in love with over time. It's not a feeling so much as a caring, an exploring, a tenderness, respect. Yaneh, I think it applies to individuals as much as it does to marriages.