The Things We Do for Love

by Kristin Hannah

“Bless us, O Lord, and these thy gifts which we are about to receive from thy bounty through Christ our Lord. Amen.”

Life keeps going. You think it’ll stop, wait for you to be done crying, but it just keeps moving. Don’t spend your time looking back. You don’t want to miss what’s ahead.”

But at the front door, Lauren threw her arms around Angie, holding on in a death-grip hug. “I’ll never forget this,” she whispered. “Thank you.”

Angie whispered back, “You’re welcome,” but her throat was suddenly tight and she wasn’t sure if her words carried any sound or not.

Grief was like that; both she and Mama knew it well. It would sometimes feel fresh, no matter how long she lived. Some losses ran deep, and time moved too slowly in a lifetime to heal them completely.

It reminded her that however much life changed, a part of it stayed the same. Family.

“We’re a team,” she said softly. “You and me. Somehow God knew we needed each other.”

I learned that my papa had been right when he used to say This too shall pass. Life has a way of going on, and you do your best and

move with it. A broken heart heals. Like every wound, there’s a scar, a memory, but it fades. Finally you realize that an hour has passed without your thinking about it, then a day. I don’t know if that answers your question …” Lauren stared at the flames.

Dear God, please show us the right way through all of this. Keep us safe. Protect and watch over Lauren. In this I pray, Amen.

Some things in life, though, couldn’t be gone in search of. They simply had to be waited for. Like the weather. You could look on the horizon and see a bank of black storm clouds. That didn’t guarantee rain tomorrow. It might just as easily dawn bright and clear. There was no damn way to tell. All you could do was keep moving and live your life.

“Love bangs us up a bit in this life, Lauren. But it doesn’t go away.”

“John Henry.”