Beginnings and Endings

I am stuck today thinking about the future and my kids and their beginnings and endings. My girls will sing tonight, in a performance whose theme is "beginnings and endings", and it will be wonderful, and I will probably weep a bit - mostly in joy, but perhaps tinged with sadness at the inexorable march of time - and wallow in their moment as best I can.

I hope they can relish it, soak in it while it’s happening, because it’s just a fleeting moment, an ending of sorts, connected as all endings are to the beginning of something else. I think they can see this continuum more clearly than I. I also think we all have a tendency to wallow in the endings and forget to celebrate the beginnings. And I understand that this is because the endings are things we know and the beginnings are usually things we don’t, and it's hard to celebrate not knowing.  

So, tonight, I will wallow a bit, while thinking a lot about what may be next, and I will celebrate both the ending and the beginning in the company of my wonderful family and friends, and I will raise a toast that all our beginnings and endings continue to be entwined.

Now, I give thanks for this moment. And I work humbly.