MARKING
THE CROSSING

Topics: Acceptance; Death; Grace; Grief; Love; Mercy; Parents

References: Romans 5:20; 2 Peter 3:18

Fifty-five years ago, sitting up with you after midnight while the nurse rested, I watched you take your last breath. A few minutes before you died, you raised your head and said, “Which … way?” I understood that you were at a dark, unmarked crossing. Then a minute later you said, “You’re a good … boy … Wallace,” and died.

My name was the last word you spoke; your faith in me and love for me were your last thoughts. I could bear them no better than I could bear your death, and I went blindly out into the November darkness and walked for hours with my mind clenched like a fist.

—Wallace Stegner, Where the Bluebird Sings to the Lemonade Springs (Penguin, 1993)