We Draw Our Own Designs

Last night, I paid my respects to the family of my former primary care physician and his wife whose son passed away. The outpouring of emotion from the community they have called home for three and more decades was, I know, of solace though the hole in his heart will never heal. As a father myself, I hope to never experience the grief that is now their constant companion.

Tonight my wife and are attending a marriage-a wedding of our daughter's oldest friend. We, her parents, and Patrick, her brother, are the only ones who've known Michelle longer than the bride, Emeline. And tonight Michael and Emeline will marry. Michelle is one of the bridesmaids.

I love the symmetry of life when every beginning has an end and vice versa though, in this case, it's not so much the end of a novel as the turning of a page and the start of a new chapter. Gayle and Eric, Emeline's parents, have watched their two sons take wives and now it's the turn of one of their daughters. It's the circle of life without having to listen to any of the songs from the movie and that certainly brightens my Friday evening.

They are (of course) not the only people getting married today. I have no idea how many others are and/or in what circumstances those couples find themselves in a world and at time when the foundations of a lot of what we've grown comfortable and familiar with has been shaken and continues to be redefined.

The expression says that the only constant is change and as much as we complain and worry about what tomorrow may bring, the inevitably of its arrival and of our having to accept what we have helps underscore and reinforce the insanity and humanity we share and celebrate among and between ourselves. Where there were two, there will now be one. Why are we here? Because we are here. Why does it happen? Because it happens. Enjoy the ride. Roll the bones.
-bill kenny