They are there

My husband and son are in Antigua for the week staying in my father-in-law's home. All three men are named Radford, they are the first, second and third of their line, and yesterday, my brother-in-law sent me an email with a subject line that read "The Radfords are here" with several exclamation points behind it.

The email said in part, "The Radfords are here and the healing has begun."

And it said: "There is such a blessing that comes from these men named Radford. They are easy to love and they bring such a feeling of calm assurance that everything will work out. God truly smiles on them and on us as we love them. I have all three with me now and I am filled with joy."

I have only hinted here at the silence born of miscues and miscommunications that developed last year among my husband and his siblings. But now, his brother wrote: "We are all more on the same page than we thought."

He is a man of faith, our brother. He has the force of belief and a desire to honor the memory of his mother. And as I read his email, tears were on my face and I whispered thanks for him and for his family that is also my family—for my husband and his father and his sister and her children. And for my son, who I am glad is in Antigua with his dad, because there is a certain lightness of spirit in my husband when his children are around. His heart is wide open when he looks into their faces.

All this to say, we are being visited by grace this week and somewhere my husband's mother can finally exhale.