I write stories.

In the past two to three years, I have written around 300 of them, but every now and then, I come across a story that is written by life itself—one that couldn’t possibly be told more truly or more beautifully than by the people who lived it.

This is one of those stories. It is the story of all that is the best in us, as told by the man who lived it—or, I should say, as told by the dad and his son, who lived it together.

Like all the best stories, it is one you won’t forget. It is also one that you will want to live by.

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A few months after Tyler passed away, I met a friend for lunch. As I was parking, I noticed a father pushing his son in a wheelchair. As I got closer, I watched him pick up his boy and place him in the backseat of his car. I guessed the father was in his late 40s or early 50s, and that the son was in his 20s. This was a grown man picking up a grown man with care and love.

I got out of the car and approached the father. I quietly said, “Excuse me.”

He turned and looked at me quizzically.

I said, “I am sorry to bother you, but is he your son?”

He said that he was.

I told him I used to carry my son the same way—I would scoop him up out of his chair and gently place him in the car. I also told him how much I miss carrying Tyler.

He said, “I have been doing this for his entire life, and I will do it for the rest of mine.”

I told him he was a good father. He smiled. I said goodbye and walked away.

I don’t know why I share this, other than to say that I think this is what life is all about—lifting each other.

I lifted Tyler physically, but he lifted me emotionally and spiritually.

There is not one person alive who is not capable of lifting another, and there is not a person alive that doesn’t need to be lifted on occasion.

That is why we are here-–-to lift. To lift physically, to lift emotionally and to lift spiritually.

There is too much tearing down in our country.

So, lift!”

~

Thank you to Dad, and thank you to Tyler for lifting us all!

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**Note: This article and the accompanying pictures were used with permission from the author.

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Author: Carmelene Siani

Image: Courtesy of author, used with permission.

Editor: Yoli Ramazzina