Never Let it End

If it’s true that time flies when you’re having fun, then I’m frightened that my life will be over before I’m ready. Lately my days have been full — overflowing even — with challenging fun, with creativity, with laughter and beauty. I catch myself thinking, “I wish this would never end,” and I feel a dull twinge of regret that life cannot continue forever.

I have a dear aunt who is suffering from Alzheimer’s disease, and an uncle with advanced lung cancer. My next door neighbor, 92, lost his wife a few months ago, and often he seems like he too is ready to leave us. I know that if I’m fortunate enough to avoid an early and unexpected demise I’ll also eventually have to face a slow end-of-life decline, and that this beautiful adventure will have to come to a mournful conclusion. I know that some of my childhood friends will die before me; others I’ll precede. I know that death is a compulsory part of life.

But for now, when the music is playing and the cameras are rolling and the presses are printing — now I wish fervently that all of it would never end, that the story would go on and on.