Of Epilogues and Endings

This last week I was able to return to where I grew up.

The place that was home for 19 years of my life.

I was worried to go back.

I wondered how hard it would be to be there again,

to see everyone again, knowing that was no longer home.

But it wasn’t like that at all.

It was simply an epilogue to a time I loved and treasured.

It was a little peak into what happens after the story ends.

Being an avid reader, I cherished books with epilogues.

The ones that gave you a glimpse into the characters’ lives down the road.

That’s what this trip felt like.

Glancing in again to see the people and places I loved and always will.

I saw many of the kids I spent hours upon hours babysitting. Some of them remembered me, some did not. Buildings and neighborhoods had changed. But that was okay, because that is what is supposed to happen after you leave a story.

Every time I finished a book, I never wanted it to end there, so I would continue the story in my mind. For there are truly no such things as endings. We are not made for them.

"There seems to be something inside of us that resists endings. Why is this? Because we are made of the stuff of eternity. We are eternal beings, children of the Almighty God, whose name is Endless and who promises eternal blessings without number. Endings are not our destiny."

President Dieter F Uchtdorf

So when it came time to say goodbye and get on the plane, the sadness was not heartbreak and sorrow, but rather a yearning to know what will continue to happen to the treasured places and people of this story.

But you cannot live in one book forever,

for we were meant to write volumes of our own stories.

This week added a wonderful epilogue to the volume I have lived and treasured for many years, but allowed me to look ahead to the next story to be written.

Adventures await.