March 31st, 2017 – Finis

The End.

Great way to start something is to end something.  I have a lot of endings happening such as the end of break, ending a really good book, the end of this March writing challenge, and others as well.

True endings aren’t real in life, though, are they? It’s like the tried and true story of the pebble in the water.  The pebble is thrown and it ends up in the water. That is not the end of the pebble though.  We all know it’s the ripples that go on.

Endings have a way of freeing us to new beginnings.  The ending of break means coming back to students with a fresh perspective and maybe some new ideas.  The ending of a book means the beginning of a new one. The ending of a writing challenge…well, that just frees up an hour of my life each day for a new challenge.  Maybe the Keep-Your-Place-Clean-and-Stay-Ahead-of-Your-Laundry-So-You-Don’t-Have-to-Spend-All-of-Sunday-Night-Folding-and-Ironing-Challenge.

A good friend once told me “You can’t start reading the next chapter of you life if you keep rereading the old one.”  That’s a tough lesson.  So much of our life is spent in reiterations of past behaviors.  Plowing grooves in the ground as we keep walking the same path through new situations.  We can’t allow an ending to lead to new beginnings unless we allow that ending to change us, to forge a new path, better, more enlightened than before.

So in this ending of the Slice of Life, I think to myself, how did it change me?  How was life different? The most apparent is appreciating life through the eyes of a storyteller.  Finding the magic in the minutiae, the daring in the dull, mystic in the mundane, that is why I love this challenge.  I want to continue to see life vividly, seek moments that move and inspire.  So I can either end this March challenge and begin April the same as I did February, or I can allow April to be new, informed by the lessons of March.

See the world as a wonderful creation, see yourself as a piece of human history, which is rooted in storytelling.  Find the awe in your day and share it with someone.

Finis