Do you remember the barefoot pallbearers from my sister Ruthie’s funeral last fall? Excerpt:

Ruthie was known for not being overly fond of wearing shoes. Mel Percy, one of her closest friends and pallbearers, observed Ruthie’s girls standing in the church during the visitation, their shoes cast aside. The girls did that because Claire had the idea that to do so would honor their mother. Mel was inspired by their example, and made a suggestion to the other pallbearers. And so, when the hearse settled in next to the cemetery, the six men took off their dress shoes, rolled up the legs of their trousers, and carried Ruthie to her grave across the damp cemetery grounds in their bare feet. It was the last tribute to her, and it was a thing of great beauty.

I will never, ever forget the barefoot pallbearers.

Robert Triche was one of the barefoot pallbearers on that warm September day nine and a half months ago. Yesterday afternoon, when I was out in Starhill visiting my family, my brother-in-law Mike’s phone rang. It was Robert calling to say that his wife had just given birth to a baby girl.

The middle name they gave her? Ruth. Mike was the first person in the world the proud papa called.

Congratulations to the Triches! Thank God for life.