Spring Green Ch. 02

How can you be sad about a life so well-lived?

The three of us walked along the Seine all the way to the Ilse St Louis, then across the little bridge that carried us to the marina by the Bastille. I wanted to go there and see the boat nestled in her slip, find Uncle stripping a winch and re-greasing it. I wanted to hear him cuss in his own unique way when he barked his shin coming up the companionway. A particularly hard blow might elicit an 'Oh, Fudge!' but more often than not you'd catch 'Piffle!' or perhaps 'Fark!' slip unawares from his lips. I remember him saying 'Shit!' once and when he turned and saw he'd been caught red-handed he'd blushed, then slunk off to hide somewhere. No shit. He was that kind of guy. Anachronism doesn't even begin to cover it; he wasn't born in the wrong era – I think he ended up on the wrong planet!

But as with everything he else he did on his journey, he made our lives the better for it. Eventually he found an end to his journey in a small city southeast of Paris, a charming medieval university town with the singularly discordant name of Dole. The boat was there, too; tied up and getting filthy – I supposed. I could just see her gleaming teak weathered and dull, bird crap an inch deep all over everything, and I wondered what I would do about it.

So, you may now if you'd like think that it is of endings that I write, but I'd beg to differ with you. You might think our story had quite naturally found its way to an end, but in truth it was only just beginning. My understanding of Chuck was just beginning. Maddie was as clueless as I. Things are never as simple as they might at first seem, at least not until you clear away the bird shit.

Change happens, I think I remember telling you some time back; Change happens whether you're ready for it – or not. While Change all too often marks an end to things, I was beyond any and all doubt unprepared for the beginnings that lay just ahead.

Was Maddie?

No, I doubt even she was. I doubt anyone could have been prepared for what lay ahead.

There's no way you can prepare for an emotional holocaust, just as there is little you can do to prepare yourself for a miracle.

You do, however, need to learn how to accept love when it comes your way. Even if you are unprepared for it.

End part 2

4/23/09