As He sat alone in his big white house in the countryside of Virginia, Ray is making it through the day, every day alone. He sits there thinking about his son, Sam, whom has disappeared from his life because of a tragic collapse of the family years ago. Ray and his wife had a divorce because of having different ideals about life. Ray believed that life was just meant to be lived and lived well. When his wife always thought that in life all you need to do was work all the time and having fun had to be earned. These differences in ideals were shown early in their marriage but they worked around it for a very long time. When Sam was 11 their family started to show signs of splitting because of the different ideals about life. the ideals started to get in the way. A year after that Ray and his wife got divorced and Sam lived with Ray in the end. Ray, because of the divorce, was put in a severe depression. He would never talk, and to this day he just sits at home reading a new book every day for 40 years.

When Sam turned 16 he left the house because he couldn’t handle living there anymore he ran away. No one knows where he went to he just disappeared. Ray is now in his early 70’s and just found out he was diagnosed with lung cancer, He caught it late and the doctors say it has spread to his brain. In worry of dying soon Ray branches out to find his son. He starts doing searches for him. He spend 6 months searching for him and finally he found him. They are 90% sure. Everything seems to match up. He sends many many letters at least one every day to Sam but Ray never gets any reply. Ray waits for a reply everyday, He would sit outside and just wait for the mail to come. He waits for 7 months then his cancer gets worse. He collapses one day when he is leaving the post office and gets rushed to the hospital.

While in the hospital Ray lies there still alone, no company besides the nurse whom checks his vitals every hour. One Sunday morning a man walks into the hospital room whom Ray doesn't recognize, it was his very own son. He has changed so much since he last saw him 40 years ago. As Sam sat down next to his father Sam had a look of regret in his eyes. As he sees his father in this condition. He regrets his past and how he left his father completely alone like he did. They didn't say much to each other at first but you could tell by the look in both of their eyes that they were saying a lot. You could just see the forgiveness in both of their eyes. They both wanted to talk about how their lives have been, but there was nothing to talk about both of their lives were filled with loneliness. Sam tells his father that he has gotten all of the letters but just ignored them not wanting to deal with his father through writing. Sam wanted to confront him. They would go over all their good memories together for a couple days, and simply enjoy each others company. Finally one day they both forgive each other Ray forgives his son for ignoring him, and Sam forgives his father for leaving him alone. and as Ray utters his last words, his forgiveness he feels himself about to go. Sam is collapsing seeing his father go like this. With Rays last breath he mutters “I love you son” then he dies. Ray quietly cries in the room as the nurses rush in and try to revive him but it is no use. His cancer was at its worst and it was just his time to go.