Endings

I feel fascinated by endings that arrive with a multitude of announcement styles leaving us witnessing the crack, the break, the dissolution, or one found within a final breath.

 An ending might appear as gently as the period that ends this sentence; it is simply complete, leaving no emotion, question, or further thought.

It might come with one or more question marks: Now? Why? When? Are you kidding????

Or maybe an exclamation with excitement, surprise, or one that is severe and feels like an explosion. Yay, I am done!!! We are finished! or, Today, war is declared!

The end might come like a short story with the announcement of an impending death as we move through, with anticipation, to absorb as much as we are able in a short time, to long for more as the end appears, and to feel the shock of loss as we witness the final whisper of a phrase.

An end might be felt as if it is the end of a saga with a list following a colon. One that we know is coming but takes many chapters to bring us fully to the finale which holds a multitude of emotions: exhaustion, relief, memory, tears, laughter, confusion, and finally, hopefully, a feeling of satisfaction in that all was done, all love expressed.

The end might arrive unannounced, found in a phone call giving information, yet hits the target with a larger font in big bold black letters: THIS DOOR WILL BE CLOSING. 

If every beginning holds an ending and every ending holds a beginning, maybe an ending is never really an ending but the birthing of a conversation that lives on in memory, story, reliving, reenactment, or the way we take it apart to more fully understand, conclude, savor, or bring forward, as we learn to live or to act in a new and different way.

With these thoughts, I now say, “The end.”

“Life is like a movie, write your own ending. Keep believing, keep pretending.”

Jim Henson

“The end of THE END is the best place to begin THE END, because if you read THE END from the beginning of the beginning of THE END to the end of the end of THE END, you will arrive at the end.” 

Lemon Snicket, The End

“It is always important to know when something has reached its end. Closing circles, shutting doors, finishing chapters, it doesn’t matter what we call it; what matters is to leave in the past those moments in life that are over.” 

Paulo Coelho, The Zahir

For Ongoing Reading List: Reading for Heart and Mind