THE LIVING LIBRARY...
When we are young, everything seems so far away, time is unbearably endless; anticipation and fulfillment of dreams are delightful, exciting adventures.

As we grow older, time catches up to us. Our expectations and goals are just within reach. Hard work and achievement brings us to the tip of the rainbow, as we bask into the multi-colored light of life's choices. We are almost there.

And then there are the golden years ...
Time speeds up like a merry-go-round gone askew. We hold on as we go round and round, faster and faster. We blink our eyes and we are in the last chapters of our biography. The end is inevitable, but how we fill those last pages are significant.

It's our final chance for fulfillment before the book is closed.

And so, as I begin to form the outline for the last chapters of my story, I project a last hurrah of sorts. My hope is to leave all behind and travel cross-country, seeing the wonders of the country --east to west, before settling in the city of misty harbors, coffee shops, public markets, and museums.

Unraveling my tale to the second lead of my life, the idea was received with silence, but not dismissed. There was hope. When finally confronted with projected actions to make this last vision a reality, the silence was broken with words that destroyed the possibility for: "and they lived happily ever after."

The beginning chapters of life's book are variable, with extraordinary scenarios and character development as its roots are to a tree. The middle volume weaves story fragments into the sturdy tree base branching into the limbs of experience. But as the season change, there is but a brief moment of magnificent color and glory before the leaves wither and drop off and life becomes dormant.

I've lived my life within the boundaries of convention and the perimeter of family responsibilities. I will not wither and die with blank verse for my last chapter. If need be, I will depart as I have lived for far too long ... alone... "and she lived happily ever after."
- posted by rosemary @ 5:45 AM