I was looking over my mother's paperwork, trying to do the death of a thousand papercuts that is cross-state MediGap coordination. Found a notebook with yellowed pages, filled with the minutia of daily living.

Toward the back, he penned in a few pithies. One went along the lines of, "A marriage license is not a guarantee of success any more than an fishing license is a guarantee you'll catch fist. It's only permission to try."