Benches and Bookends

All this summer I have seen how life--at least my life bookends itself. I find it really amazing, and oh so intriguing...how pieces fit together, and how they fall apart.

Something really great started on this bench....months and months ago. And somehow I knew that it would end in the same place...I knew it would end like this, with the green grass and the leaves still on the trees. I sat on this bench at the beginning of summer...and I knew. I don't know how, but I knew it would end here...and that I would be ok.

Thinking how the summer started....at the airport. And how it ended....at the airport. How I felt then--hopeful, excited and a little scared. How I feel now...hopeful, excited, and a little scared. But also relieved. And a little more sure of myself...

I have no regrets. I have no thoughts of "what if" or "maybe if I" or "I can change this...." only acceptance and looking forward to what is ahead of me now.

Am I sad...yes of course. A little bit--but I know this is what is right. Will I miss the good times, yes. But I know that more are to come.There will be more faces, more places, more open spaces. This is the end of one chapter, but the start of a completely new one..

There is so much to say, and just as much to be left unsaid...at least here and now.

Benches....and bookends. A summer full of both...a full summer.

An epic summer.