The next morning, I decided to gently ask him more about this “big man.” My son described him as kind, old, and wearing “a hat like the ones in Grandpa’s pictures.” The description made my breath catch. My father had passed away before my son was born, but he had always talked about how much he wished he could meet his grandchildren someday. My son had never seen a photo of him wearing that hat—it was from decades ago.9

Curious and a little emotional, I brought out an old family album and placed it on the floor in front of my son without saying a word. He flipped through a few pages, stopped, and tapped one photograph with certainty. “That’s him, Mommy. That’s the man who