Andy Laats

Figure out how to enable more people to spend time in this world beyond letters and language.

You need some help?

Ask those N through Z people, the people who have felt it.

They'll be your guide.

They'll let you know when you get it right.

So involve them in your process.

For me, the times that my kids and I spent in this empathy-rich space cemented the idea for our family that bad things happen.

Pain, suffering, life's unfairnesses will happen, but we are not alone.

In space, time in this space, the connection feels so good, so whole, I would do anything to be in the heart of it with my kids.

And I hope, in time, my kids will do anything to be in the heart of it with their kids.

Because once you know, you know.

In other words, I'll remember, I'm looking forward to the birthdays and graduations, but what will I treasure in my final days?

a locked-in stare at a red light, tears of good news, and buying $150 worth of feminine products in the East Cow Path, Vermont.

Liz suspected I didn't understand all this when she died, and she was right.

Her fear was I'd never find it, and the kids would forever lose access to these sublime interactions that she had with them.

Those interactions, the last thing she could bear to give up in her final days.

It was her greatest sadness.

But also a giant gift for me.

Paid for at the highest price that I will not squander.

This shared world beyond Z that I can now experience with my kids, it's real.