The emailed list of items written by my ex-boyfriend on the eve of the anniversary of his father's death, in which he outlines the simple things we can do in his father's remembrance, is one of those core-cutting pieces of prose -- the kind you read over and over until you know the words by heart -- that is the mark of nearly everything I love about writing. It is honest and earnest and essential, and infused with precisely the right amount of humor.
