I looked toward the house.
“Then I discovered that the man I’d loved for thirty-eight years had spent his final years building something for me.”
My voice shook.
“He built me a place where I could feel safe.”
I swallowed.
“But a safe place is not the end of a life.
Sometimes it’s where a new life begins.”
I glanced toward Patricia.
“Since opening, our project has helped people who were made to feel unwanted, burdensome, or powerless.
And I want each of them to hear something that took me far too long to learn.”
I paused.
“You are not valuable because someone needs you.
You are valuable because you’re a human being.
You deserve dignity even when you have nothing left to give.”
Applause rose through the meadow.
I stepped back.
Miriam wiped her eyes.
I was crying too.
Later, after the guests departed, I carried a small box into Thomas’s study.
