It's the Joshua tree's struggle that gives it its beauty.

They're so weird and so beautiful," she said."Like you," I said.I meant it as a joke, but Liz nodded. She felt that she was sort of like an emu herself, she said. Maybe that was why she'd had flying dreams ever since she was a little girl -- at heart, she was an emu. She was sure the emus also dreamed of flying. It was another thing they had in common. Both she and the emus wanted to fly -- they just didn't have the wings they wanted.

We laughed about all the kids who believed in the Santa myth and got nothing for Christmas but a bunch of cheap plastic toys. "Years from now, when all the junk they got is broken and long forgotten," Dad said, "you'll still have your stars.

She never felt sorry for herself, and that was something I decided I admired most in people.

You have a mighty high opinion of yourself, I told him. The fact is, you don't love me, and you haven't destroyed me. You don't have what it takes to do that