“Carve your name on hearts, not tombstones.”

– Sharon L. Alder, American best-selling author

“I can’t read the name,” said Barry, running his hand across the sandstone surface.

“I can’t either,” I replied. The gravestone was too weathered to make out the letters.

While exploring an old farmstead, my buddy Barry and I happened upon the grave. A neighbour was clearing the land, and we thought we’d explore the site before it got bulldozed into brush piles. It was the mid-70s, and we were two curious kids in our mid-teens.

The gravestone consisted of a rectangular centre stone with an arched top and two smaller stones that formed shoulders on either side. The centre stone had fallen forward slightly, and I got the i...

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