A True Story of MORE

Nancy’s mother lay dying in a nursing home. Years of mental and physical anguish, enduring life in the shadow of her domineering husband, had drained her belief that life has meaning. Despite having witnessed and endured her mother’s suffering and now her desolation, Nancy’s faith remained strong. When her mother questioned, Nancy replied, “You can lean on me now; I have enough faith for both of us.”

One day after her mother had come back from the edge between life and death, Nancy reached out further, saying, “Mother, there has to be more than this or nothing would make sense. I want to make a covenant with you. I want us to promise that whoever dies first will do everything possible to let the other know if there is More.” Her mother laughed, “Anyway I can, I will.”

Weeks later Nancy’s mother died. After the immediate relief Nancy felt empty, then angry. Several months later, now in despair, having had no sense of there being More after death, Nancy was walking on Duxbury Beach, that five mile spit of land jutting out into the Atlantic just north of Plymouth, Massachusetts. Meaning had dissipated. All she believed amounted to nothing; what she had put her trust in was not there.

Sobbing, she stopped walking, raised her arms toward the sky, fiercely yelling, “God, you’re a phony; it’s all fake! Mother, if there is More, you have to tell me NOW!” Nancy looked down. Through the blur of her tears, a bit of blue sea glass partially buried in the sand caught her eye. Sea glass, once sharp and dangerous, now tumbled and softened by waves and sand, cobalt blue a rare find. As she picked it up and brushed the sand away, Nancy felt smooth, slightly curved glass the size of a communion wafer. Running her fingers over the smoothed glass, she detected embossed letters near one edge. Wiping away her tears, she slowly made out the letters M-O-R-E, then, in an instant, the word: MORE.

Immediate disbelief and harder sobbing. “It can’t be!” Then awe and gratitude.

Nancy did not put this blue sea glass in a frame or safe deposit box. She tells the story to anyone who will listen and shares the sea glass with people who are dying. Eventually she had it mounted in soft silver on a thick chain making it easier to hold or wear.