My father loved crossword puzzles. When I came into my parents’ apartment, I had to see not only his handwriting but also the last crossword puzzle he had filled out — the phrases that he had written (his unique handwriting) — I was also grasping for straws. I needed to be the closest I would ever get to goodbye, to his last words that I never had …

What I saw stunned me!

The last thing that he had written was actually a motto, a maxim, a saying that was completed from individual letters assigned to numbers scattered throughout the completed crossword puzzle. It read: “With Bravery Stands Happiness”

… his last words that I needed, written by him, by his hand and left now to me …