Carrying the ruin

How true is this! Makes me think very much of my own family.

From Stay With Me by Garrett Freymann-Wehr

"When things end, what matters is not that everythings in pieces," Janie finally said. "It's how you carry them."

I thought that as nonanswers go, this one was pretty cool, because she was miles away from saying that when love died, you picked yourself up and made the best of things. That you carried ruin with you was surely something I already knew from watching my father, but it seemed more believeable spelled out by Janie.

. . . I arrived when Rebecca's life was more than half over, and my share of what she leaves behind is therefore small. Just big enough to carry.