I wanted this book to have more levity. More than that, I wanted the life to have more levity. Reader, I wish I could offer you 20 percent more wit and 20 percent less pain, and I wish life had offered me those bonuses and discounts, too. But to play devil’s advocate: It’s okay to have feelings. You don’t have to laugh them off. You don’t have to turn everything painful that happens into a self-deprecating joke in which you and your suffering are the punchline. It’s okay to put away the sad trombone. It’s okay to show up as your whole self, to come as you are.
