"It was a long time ago. "Though it seems, sometimes, that most things that matter happened a long time ago, that is not really true. What is true is this: bu the time you realize how much something mattered, time has passed; by the time it stops hurting enough that you can tell about it, first to yourself, and finally to someone else, more time has passed; then, when you sit down to begin the telling, you have to begin this way: "It was a long time ago."