There is no Cent’anni for us; we won’t make it to our thirteenth wedding anniversary.
-- Amy Bloom (Pages 1 - 46)

Importance: Amy Bloom's narrative voice is comedic and intensely real. Although she still loves Brian and wants him to stay with her, she knows that her role is to let him go and to support his journey to die with dignity. While they both wish they could spend the rest of their lives together, Amy is self-preservationist in reminding herself that is not possible for her life.

It reminds me a little of a hotel we loved in Amsterdam, but I am afraid that he won’t remember the trip, the hotel. I am afraid that he won’t but he will pretend that he does and I won’t know if he does or he doesn’t, which is awful, or I will know he doesn’t, which is also awful, and I...
-- Amy Bloom (Pages 1 - 46)