There's a reason for everything, you said, and though it's a mystery to me now, I know it won't always be so.

How many boys like him were out there in the ether, holding on to their big brothers and sisters who were still alive? How many husbands were floating between life and death, clinging to their wives in this world? And how may millions and millions of people were there in the world like Charlie who wouldn't let go of their loved ones when they're gone?

And I was even beginning to think home might be with you.

On the horizon, he saw the full moon. God dropped it there, he was sure, as a reminder of our small place in the world. A reminder that what is beautiful is fleeting.

...like the 75 billion souls who lived before him, each and every one a treasure, he, too, will die.

In a critical sense, doing nothing can mean doing something. Inaction can be action and embracing this paradox can save your life.

There's a reason for everything, you said, and though it's a mystery to me now, I know it won't always be so.