Toward the end of the movie, not the story, Ennis came to appreciate and take comfort in his children and to feel the "reassurance of life's continuance." But he also felt the pain of the loss of his life's love, Jack, and suffered because he was alone while his children "had it all before them, and nothing was wrong."
Another darker side of the story is that, while Jack and Ennis were on Brokeback Mountain, time didn't exist. They had their own garden of Eden. But when Aguirre interfered and told them what roles they were to play, they accepted his judgement. Also, when the sheep got tangled up they endeavored to straighten them out according to the rules, thinking "what if we have to work for him again?" When Aguirre ordered the sheep to be brought down from the mountain, Ennis acquiesced, even though he felt that he was in a "slow-motion but headlong, irreversible fall," a fall from grace. He rejected Jack and walked away from their life together, even though his gut told him not to. Time began for them then, and they could never go back to Brokeback.
This echoes the story of creation, a story that begins before recorded time. Time began when the egg of the universe shatters and time begins. The egg is the same as the oeuvre, or oestre, which became Easter. When the egg falls into time, the physical universe materializes. This ancient concept is echoed in many stories and religions, but I'll just repeat one that seems appropriate for today:
Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall
All of the king's horses and all of the king's men
Couldn't put Humpty together again.
