— “Hey guys, how about a road trip this summer? It’s been a while since we went anywhere as a family.”
Matthew looked at Sam.
— “Where should we go?”
— “How about we visit the place where Sam grew up?” Karen suggested. “We can visit his grandmother’s grave and meet some of the people she helped.”
Sam smiled.
— “You’d really do that?”
— “Of course,” Andrew said. “She’s part of our family now, too. If it weren’t for her, none of this would have happened.”
A week later, they drove to the small rural town in the Appalachians where Sam had lived with his grandmother. It was a modest place—small houses and gravel roads. But the people there welcomed Sam like a returning hero.
— “Sam!” an elderly woman called out from her porch. “Good to see you, boy!”
— “Hi, Mrs. Gable! How are you feeling?”
— “Doing great, thank the Lord! And thanks to that salve your Grandma Rose taught me to make, my joints don’t ache anymore.”
All day, people came by to say hello to Sam and share stories of how Mrs. Rose had helped their families. Andrew and Karen were struck by how many lives the old healer had touched.
That afternoon, they visited Grandma Rose’s grave. It was simple—a wooden cross with her name and the inscription: *She sowed seeds of healing that bloomed in other hands.*
Sam knelt by the grave and was silent for a few minutes. Matthew knelt beside him.
— “What are you thinking about?” Matthew asked quietly.
— “Just saying thank you. And promising I’ll keep it going.”
— “We’ll keep it going together,” Matthew corrected him.
Andrew and Karen stood a few yards back, watching. Karen wiped her eyes.
— “Andrew, do you think she knew Sam would find us?”
— “I think people like her see things we can’t explain. Maybe she prepared Sam specifically to find us that day.”
As they walked back to the car, an old man approached them. It was Mr. Henderson, who had been Mrs. Rose’s neighbor for decades.
— “Sam, son, good to see you looking so well.”
— “Hi, Mr. Henderson. This is my new family.”
Mr. Henderson greeted Andrew and Karen with a respectful nod.
— “Rose used to talk about you folks,” he said, surprising everyone.
— “How’s that?” Andrew asked.
— “In her last weeks, she kept saying Sam would find a family that needed him as much as he needed them. Said he’d have to use everything she taught him to help a boy who’d lost something precious.”
Sam and Matthew looked at each other.
— “Did she say anything else?” Sam asked.
