What’s something you believe everyone should know?
Everyone should know that relationships matter. More than success, more than possessions, more than the restless drive to be admired.
When I visit my mother in the nursing home, her world has narrowed to a single room. She doesn’t know what day it is, or sometimes where she is, but each visit circles back to the same tender questions: Do you love me? Have I been a good mother? Have I been a good wife?
We can honestly answer yes to all three. She may feel useless, but she is not. Her life still draws people in — friends, family, nurses — perhaps more visitors than anyone else in the place. They come not out of duty but affection. Her love lingers, even as her strength fades.
In her quiet way, she reminds us what endures. Wealth, influence, busyness — all of it falls away. What remains is the simple, sacred truth that love outlasts everything else. Our relationship with God, with family, with those around us — that is what gives life its meaning.
The Afterword 
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