I thought I knew what to expect, but then again, nothing can really prepare you for something like this. How could it? No glaring headline, mournful Reddit post, or even your own worst nightmare—the kind where you wake up damp, heart racing, thanking GOD it was just a dream—can describe this moment. The one where you look into the eyes of someone you love so much, someone you would do anything for...

How strange it is that one substance, sand, can be the same and yet so different. The fluffy white carpet along a turquoise beach. The damp, scratchy remnants of a children’s sand box mid-September. The pristine, untouched grains inside a glass hourglass on a mantel.

The hot, stifling intruder filling what used to be home....