“I rested my hand on hers. Actually, when I wasn’t paying attention, it was in hers. I don’t know if it helped. I don’t know if it made any difference at all, if she had even the vaguest sense that I was there, that I was thinking about her and hurting for her and praying for her. All I could do was try. All I could do was be here. All I could give her was my love, even if she never knew.”

“I don’t have home without him”, Carrie said when doctor asked her to go home.“I won’t give up on him. Do you hear me, Doctor? Don’t you give up on him!”

“I stood there for a few more seconds, watching her go. And I couldn’t do anything but admire her courage, her compassion. I wanted her. I wanted her so badly I was shaking.”

“What do you want from me, Crank?” Her voice was raw, desperate. I looked at her. She was so close, but might as well have been a thousand miles away. I said, “I want you to love me.”

“It wasn’t. Ray was too alive, too vital, too much of everything. Everything about him was real, solid. He couldn’t be these things the doctor described. Not breathing on his own. No brain activity. Not Ray. “I don’t have home without him”, Carrie said when doctor asked her to go home. “I won’t give up on him. Do you hear me, Doctor? Don’t you give up on him!”

“And you won't write any more stupid songs about me?""Can't promise that. In fact, that may be all I do for the rest of my life.”

“Don't you get it? Can you imagine the...the heroism? That's what grace is all about. He didn't even think for one second about himself. All he thought about was that little girl, and saving her life.”