I'm told that it's all a part of getting older when the odds change in favor of the grim reaper touching your life with surprising frequency. In the past week I've learned of the recent passing of someone who wandered in and out of my circles so many times throughout the years. Although we were never close, we were always happy to see each other, and his smile once prompted my mother to say, "That boy has got to have one of the sweetest hearts...". Last night brought news of another distant orbiter - practically a cousin due to the closeness of our mothers - who is no longer keeping pace with the world around us. For so many years his clumsy steps and oblivious actions left violent waves in his volatile wake, yet those of us on the shore continued to throw out the life preservers and pray for a happy ending for him and his family.
Old friends, distant relatives, trusted newsmen, musical innovators, and celluloid goddesses: everyone has their time and then a time to go, a fact that becomes more evident with each passing year. And since it's hard to find comfort in a fact when the fact is cold and hard, we hope for peace for the departed and try to imagine a better place where every thing shines as brightly as the stars in the heavens.
The beautiful scenarios that we create in an attempt to find our own peace amongst the facts deserve their own theme songs and I'm finding comfort in "Santa Clara" by The National because they don't mind seeing ghosts and know that they all are going to be "cool happy genius heroes" in our hearts for as much time as we have left. In "Santa Clara", it's recognized that it's up to us, the left behind, to create the happy ending for those who no longer can.
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