Normally I dog ear pages of books for passages I want to remember, but I stopped doing that a few pages into Especially Now because nearly every tiny passage has sharp bite. The 50ish-word micro stories share common themes of unusually twined resignation and hope with characters deciding to live another day with their eyes open, like

Life was not a romance, but it could be this.

There's a realistic perseverance through the sad times. If you've lost someone you loved, perhaps to suicide, you might relate to

What hurt Lé the most--more than knowing she'd never hear Kenzie's infectious cackle again--was how life steamrolled over the dead. Tomorrow didn't care that she was gone. The world lives without us. Lé clenched the flowers tighter, like holding onto an arm.

Every story is like that, taking your breath away, and sharing empathy, because, like the I voice in story #32, we're all "so very tired of recuperation mode."

You can buy EN from the big box retailer or your favorite zine distro. I got mine from Portland Button Works.