The first of these drawing to a close leading to a new beginning moments involves a simple phone call and chance meeting last week. I recently learned time is now ticking more than before as grad school draws closer. It is hard to say when I'll be ready to just be friends but in an effort to not jeopardize good enough in search of perfect, I decided it was time to be try to be friends. Sure, there'll be missteps and blunders, but an attempt at friendship is an essential new beginning with someone immeasurably important to my life. A walk together around Green Lakes exemplified all elements of this but as time waits for no one, it is time. This signifies both a theses and a paren.
The unseasonably warm weather lead to an opportunity to make late fall and early winter preparations. Part of these included removing the plants from the garden we planted together, recently weakened as water filled cells froze and ruptured. Ripping out these plants was another way of separating lives that were once so entwined. Who knows what will volunteer to sprout next year, but a theses.
On Thursday, we lost our dear friend and brewing mascot Maple to a tragic and shocking turn of events. Struck and killed in front of her home, she appears to have gone doing something she loved (and perhaps couldn't help) - following a scent. You will be missed, Maple. The lighting of the pyre and burning of the shovel was a fitting way to reflect on your life, the joy you brought to those who knew you, and to say good bye. A definite theses.
In a longer term theses, I finally unloaded a weighty symbol of young and ignorant love. Receiving a mere fraction of what I was led to believe it was worth, I am frustrated by the deception and construed value placed on love by our materialistic society. I am thankful, however, for the insight of hindsight, and the knowledge I've gained from this experience. A theses.
Some things, however, may not ever have any closure. Today is the 15th anniversary of my grandfather's passing. I think of him less frequently than I used to but am reminded of his contributions to my life through little things. The stacking of wood, the ring of a wind chime, the use of a hand tool, or the "Grandpa Logan move", which is achieved when running late for an event but having the good fortune of finding a parking space right up front. I hope to channel your friendliness by someday being able to walk into a room of strangers and leave knowing a little something about everyone. I know I am a long way off from this, but it would be a great thing to accomplish.
[An explanation for the title is probably necessary. One of my high school math teachers called the ( a paren and the ) a theses when trying to teach us how to properly insert parentheses into mathematical equations. Seemed appropriate here for some reason.]
