I’ve had this interview from an NPR series in my virtual pocket for some time now. The conversation revolved around the author and her siblings’ feelings about spirituality after their parents’ death. I can’t say I relate to much of the conversation – the idea of a mystical “force” or “energy” doesn’t appeal to me. But the dialog ended on an interesting point.

” … the concept of heaven or hell or an afterlife is one for the survivors again. And if we as a survivor need that, we have all those memories and those things that our parents gave to us… We can manifest them ourselves and have them with us when we want to… We carry heaven in our pocket.”

I find the idea that heaven is the memories others have of us, the reassurance of holding a trinket of personal value, the weight of a talisman, to be deeply resonant.