I didn’t know that I would be saying goodbye to my son for the last time. How could I have known? He was only 20 years old, still in the prime of life, still living in as safe a spot as any. There was no reason to assume, no reason to be concerned, no reason to even think that I might never see him again. Standing outside his college residence, we hugged and I said, as I always did, “I love you, Nick-o.” And I watched him walk away arm-in-arm with the love of his life. A few weeks later, when the phone call came, I was broken-hearted, of course. I was devastated. But I was also thankful that we had parted on the best of terms. I was thankful that we had expressed love for one another and that our final words were affectionate rather than angry, that they were deliberate rather than careless. I was thankful that our sorrow was not compounded by regret. A fact of life in this tragic world is that any parting may be our last. There are some who see it coming and who are able to bid farewell like Jacob to his sons—to speak to each of them, to bless them, and then to “draw up his feet into the bed and breathe his last and be gathered to his people” (Genesis 49:33). But there are as many who do not know that they are saying goodbye for the final time, who do not know that this … Continue reading When Goodbye Is Forever