Together Forever..Just Not Now: Losing a Loved One, Coping, and Moving On, by J. Randolph Ayre. 116 pages in soft cover, $15, available at LDS book outlets, amazon.com, and randyayre@msn.com. (Non-LDS version titled Saying Good-bye.)

There’s nothing like hearing it from someone who’s been there, and J. Randolph Ayre fits the bill with Together Forever…Just Not Now: Losing a Loved One, Coping, and Moving On, a self-published, well-written book with a title that accurately reflects the contents.

I met Randy and Elsa Marie Ayre about six years ago when we were serving at the same time as senior couples in Santiago, Chile. It was my husband’s and my first mission together, and the Ayres’ second. Randy served as an attorney for the Church in both the Philippines and Chile.

Later, the Ayres moved to Laie and took an assignment teaching at BYU-Hawaii.

This energetic couple continues to be a living testament that people can face the death of a spouse, learn to cope, and then move on with joy in life and family. They admit they’ve played Cupid themselves with widowed friends and have seen happy endings.

Randy, ever the articulate teacher, has put his experience into a book in an effort to help others who face the loss of their eternal companion. His own experience — which he also shares as a speaker — is bolstered by comments of many others who have been in a similar situation and have managed to find love and happiness a second time.

The book brings up questions about sensitive matters such as how to handle old photos, memorabilia, and furnishings from the first marriage and even what name the wife will use. It discusses aspects of remarriage such as deciding which house to live in, and safeguarding financial assets and children’s inheritance with a pre-nuptial agreement.

It even covers a biggie for older remarried couples: how to divide time and attention among all the children, especially when those children all have families of their own. Randy and Elsa Marie each have four, and there are now more than 20 grandchildren in the mix.

“Developing good relationships with children and grandchildren on both sides of the new marriage should be the paramount goal of the couple,” he writes. “The seamless amalgamation of our two families has become one of our crowning achievements.”

One chapter in the LDS version, Together Forever, discusses the sensitive issue of marrying for time only while being sealed for eternity to another spouse. That subject and other LDS references are absent in a non-LDS version of the book called Saying Goodbye. A helpful appendix in both editions outlines the basics of powers of attorney, living wills or directives, estate planning and asset inventory, trusts, and Jean Stringfellow’s Drop Dead List of info every spouse should know before it is needed.

The bottom line in both versions of the book is that it is possible to deal with loss and find fulfillment in a new marriage. And the Ayres continue to prove it.