Home Entertainment Game Technology Advertisement Part 2: For eight years, my parents made me leave the house every time my brother brought his fiance over; Mom said, “She comes from a good family, don’t embarrass us”; Dad added, “Just disappear for the weekend”; I did; then one weekend, I never came back; it took them four years to find out where I went.

Apparently that created a theological and landscaping problem nobody had anticipated.

I laughed for five minutes.

Then agreed to visit.

Avery came.

Not Mitch.

She and Mitch were moving toward divorce.

Not because I asked.

Not because she had to choose me.

Because she no longer trusted the foundation of her marriage.

We drove to the church on a cold March afternoon.

The dogwood stood near the east wall.

Bigger.

Healthy.

White buds beginning to swell.

I recognized the branch structure.

I had selected well.

A small granite marker sat beneath it.

I stared at my own name.

STACEY BENTON

1996–2014

LOVED BEYOND WORDS

Avery whispered:

“I am so sorry.”

I crouched.

Ran my fingers over the dates.

I expected rage.

Instead I felt something stranger.

Compassion for the girl I had been.

Eighteen.

Fresh out of the hospital.

Confused.

Being told to disappear.

She had no idea people were praying over a symbolic grave with her name on it.