While we very much like to talk about and emphasize all the new beginnings in life, rarely is acknowledgement given to the death or ending that made each new beginning possible. Whether it be the death of a childhood fantasy, such as comes when one learns that there is no Santa Claus or tooth fairy, or the loss of the illusion that one's own parents are perfect, or the death that is the loss of one's virginity, or the death that is becoming an adult by means of turning eighteen, or the death that is high school graduation, or the death that is the loss of that first love, or the death that is the giving up of a dream, or the death that is a divorce, or the death that is a layoff, or the death that is becoming a parent, or the death that is the onset of aging, few if any of these things are ever acknowledged, honored, mourned, and incorporated into an understanding of life as the intrinsic parts of life that they each may be.

¶ 8:23 PM