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Jack Haynes's avatar

Thank you, Sherman. This story alone caused me to upgrade to paid. (Substack gonna break me, Bro!) Beautiful and so tender. Unlike your experience, when I lost my Grandfather in 1965 the thing that lingered - that still lingers - is the sound of his voice. All these years later I can hear him chuckle as he corrected some youthful foolishness. We lived together, alone but for our border collie, Trigger, in a four-room adobe without indoor plumbing or running water in the high country of Northern New Mexico. He was my first and best teacher. Almost 60 years later he still guides me. And I'll bet that somehow, somewhere, your sister still abides with you as well. Just in another room.

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Joshua Doležal's avatar

So generous and loving. I hope to one day be free enough from grief, or at least less in its grip, to make something this beautiful out of it. Also "There’s always a church by the river." A quiet joke, and not the main point of the essay, but made me smile all the same. A safe bet in the Northwest, where pretty much every town was built along the river, which is also the path that the railroad follows. The church by the railroad tracks would probably be just as safe a bet, if not redundant :)

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