Late Migrations: A Natural History of Love and Loss, by Margaret Renkl, 2021
NOTE: The books in this series contain themes of grief and loss, which may be challenging for some readers.
Gorgeously illustrated by the author’s brother, Billyl, Renkl offers observations on the world surrounding her suburban Nashville home. Ringing with rapture and heartache, these essays convey the dignity of bluebirds and rat snakes, monarch butterflies and native bees. As these two threads haunt and harmonize with each other, Renkl suggests that there is astonishment to be found in common things: in what seems ordinary, in what we all share. For in both worlds—the natural one and our own—“the shadow side of love is always loss, and grief is only love’s own twin.”
“Human beings are creatures made for joy. Against all evidence, we tell ourselves that grief and loneliness and despair are tragedies, unwelcome variations from the pleasure and calm and safety that in the right way of the world would form the firm ground of our being. In the fairy tale we tell ourselves, darkness holds nothing resembling a gift. What we feel always contains its own truth, but it is not the only truth, and darkness almost always harbors some bit of goodness tucked out of sight, waiting for an unexpected light to shine, to reveal it in its deepest hiding place.”
― Margaret Renkl, Late Migrations: A Natural History of Love and Loss
“Blessed are the parents whose final words on leaving—the house, the car, the least consequential phone call—are always “I love you.” They will leave behind children who are lost and still found, broken and, somehow, still whole.”
― Margaret Renkl, Late Migrations: A Natural History of Love and Loss
“Back on the caregiving roller coaster, I struggled to remember the lesson I had just learned so painfully with Mom: the end of caregiving isn't freedom. The end of caregiving is grief.”
― Margaret Renkl, Late Migrations: A Natural History of Love and Loss
2025 Fall Book Leader Mildred Rugger Discusses Late Migrations: A Natural History of Love and Loss
Mildred Rugger was born in Spokane, Washington, and then lived a few years in each of these places: Plainview, Texas; two Idaho towns; several Iowa towns; and the Mexico City area. When she settled in San Antonio, Texas, she met a wonderful archivist who became her husband. In 2008, his work led them to Canyon, Texas. For over 25 years, Mildred taught English to adult non-native speakers from over 50 countries. After some years of formation, she was ordained a deacon in the Episcopal Church in 2016. This led to six years working as a hospice spiritual caregiver. She is now retired but continues as an active deacon at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, serving those in need.
