We don’t always know when a chapter in our lives ends. Very often it happens with a small sound, a wisp of smoke, or the tiniest wrinkle.
Then there are days like today when a chapter closes with a resolute BANG! A sound like a dictionary being dropped on the floor. The slamming of an old solid oak door with all the force of the gale behind it – BOOM.
Someone died today. Someone who was very broken, very difficult, and much a part of my growing up. She was there for the last 25 years, give or take, and if she wasn’t front and center in my life, she was a constant hum in the background noise of my life.
Her arrival signaled another major change in my life – the end of my childhood. It too ended with a resounding bang, this time a gun shot.
Other chapters opened and closed in the middle of that quarter century, some quietly, others with songs and celebration. Today will be remembered as a strange mixture of relief and melancholy, remembering the woman who was and the girl who never got to be.
Her story is over, her book is written. A sad story, but mostly true. Mine is not over yet, and I am going to embrace this new chapter and the fresh, clean page.
Tomorrow.
The Books are Taking Over... 