Mingle

          I guess I'm too full of nerve endings.

          I ache.

          It was a beautiful day. The weather. The ceremony. Speeches. Walks. Conversations. Things mended, to a degree, or at least put aside. Laughing. Last moments well spent.
          And now I can't keep my breath from catching at the top of my lungs. I laid back on the grass and felt the coolness of it on the skin between my shoulder blades, felt the sunlight mingle with the heat welling up under my eyelids.

          Things seem emptier.


          But tonight - I'll spend time with friends who remain, maybe see a movie, eat dinner together. Sorrow is insidious. But I'll try to enjoy these other moments.


          I'm always blindsided by endings. Even the ones I expect.