"Can I at least see where it happened?" she asked, obviously not convinced. We got out of the car and walked hand in hand along the path. The place hadn't changed as much as I thought it would and I easily found the spot where Helen and I set out our blanket so many years ago.

"Right here?" Ellie asked excitedly, bouncing around the clearing like Tigger in those Winnie-the-Pooh cartoons she used to watch.

"This is the spot," I answered.

"And you don't think it would be totally awesome to use this same spot for me?" she asked, tilting her head to one side and slightly down so she...