Page 65 of The Next Person You Meet in Heaven

Seasons came and seasons went, and when the days grew hot, the crowds returned to the seaside amusement parks, and kids rode the newest version of the tower drop ride at Ruby Pier, unaware, as children blessedly are, of previous fates that were altered in its space.

Annie, meanwhile, gave birth to a daughter, whom she cradled gently to her chest. She called her Giovanna, an Italian name for “gift from God,” because, as Paulo had suggested, Annie returned from heaven to bring her into the world.

One day, when Giovanna was four years old, Annie took her outside to look at the stars.

“They’re so high, Mommy!”

“Yes, they are.”

“Is there anything higher?”

Annie only grinned. She never spoke about her journey through the afterlife, not to anyone. But she did not intend to be silent forever.

One day, when Giovanna was old enough, Annie would tell her a story about heaven. She would tell herof the people who were already there, her Grandma and her older brother and her Daddy in a tuxedo, watching the stars. She would tell her of the secrets she had learned on her visit, how one life touches another and that life touches the next.

She would tell her that all endings are also beginnings, we just don’t know it at the time. And for the rest of her days, the child would be comforted knowing whatever her fears or losses, heaven held the answers to all her earthly questions, beginning with five people who were waiting for her, as they wait for us all, under the eyes of God and in the true meaning of that most precious word.

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