New Chapters

I had an epiphany. I’m not sure what that is exactly though. I assume it to be some great moment of insight. I’m not so naïve as to believe that such instantaneous insight is an act of divine intervention into the lives of mere mortals. Frankly, my beliefs are more earthly. Blinding shafts of light viewed vertically, I generally assume to be meteors. Viewed horizontally, I take to be the headlights of a semi in the wrong lane. I try to hold the term “divine” in reserve for monumental situations like the taste of a HAP’s hot dog. Let’s say I had a thought and leave it at that.

A colleague of mine experienced a life-changing event – the loss of a spouse. We are not close friends in the usual sense. We don’t visit one another or even talk that much. But, I feel connected to her. I think I know her deep down inside. This may not be true, but it feels that way! It is like in Anne of Green Gables. When Anne looks at her reflection in the window pane at the orphanage, she knows the person she sees there … her kindred spirit. I feel this way with my colleague to some degree. Thus, her experience gave me pause. The situation reminded me of a book … and I thought, “Even old books have new chapters”. What if books had no end and were instead perpetually available for new chapters to be added. Who says the conclusion of a book is the purview of the author. Such audacity! To me, the classics are a perfect example of this idea. The classics have stood the test of time. They are read and reread … thought and rethought … imagined and re-imagined … over and over again. Can the story remain the same under these conditions or does the book become the cumulative experience of it all? In effect, new chapters are constantly being written. Are our libraries the accumulation of what has been or what will be?

Are our lives so different? When are the endings defined in our lives? Are they real or are we, like the reader, constantly reimagining what our lives have been or will be? Are we adding new chapters?

The End ( no strike this )

The Pause