He understood what yearning was, what it meant to miss one’s mother, to fear for one’s sister. He understood the pain of losing everything and not being able to forget. He’d lost everything a long time ago, and he never forgot. But he’d learned to be glad for life for its own sake; glad to live another day, and another, and another. Hungry, but alive to enjoy food another day. Cold, but alive to enjoy warmth when it came. Alone, but alive to enjoy company when it found him.
