I thought of you all yesterday and hope the Ashland service brought you comfort, lovely memories, and inspiring stories of your remarkable son. The time together in Corvallis was amazing–so many people touched by Alex in so many ways, making a beautiful mosaic of his time with us. I would not have missed it.

On my way to Denver I ran across a New Yorker article about a poet whose own son died several years ago. He was been attempting to write that story, and this tiny excerpt struck me:

I did not know the work of mourning

Is like carrying a bag of cement
Up a mountain at night.

The mountaintop is not in sight

Because there is no mountaintop

Poor Sisyphus grief

I did not know I would struggle

Through a ragged underbrush

Without an upward path

…

Look closely and you will see

Almost everyone carrying bags

Of cement on their shoulders

That’s why it takes courage

To get out of bed in the morning
And climb into the day.

You both were so courageous on Saturday, and I am guessing that each day requires that courage of you now. I hope that the presence of so many attempting to help you up the mountain path offers some small measure of consolation, Love to you both, Jane