I listened to an interview with Haleh Esfandiari today on NPR. She's the Iranian American academic who was held in solitary confinement for 4 months on suspicions of aiding attempts to overthrow the government. She sounds like an unbelievably strong, amazing woman. Esfandiari said in the interview that she couldn't think about her husband and daughter as it was too painful. Instead, she wrote a book in her head about her grandmother, who has passed away. She said it was easier to think about people who had already died.

Every time I miss my family and start to feel down, I try to remember that it could always be worse.