Do you know that feeling, the one that overcomes you when something has just come to an end? Can you remember what it is like to know that something is finished, and the absolute elation and soaring terror and blinding sadness that come afterward? If you reach back into your memory, and sift through all that you have experienced, will one moment, one treasure, stand out? Does one episode of that finishing feeling take over, grabbing hold of each of your senses? Would you go back to it, and experience it once more if that were a possibility? Could you bear it one more time?
There are moments each of us will remember forever. Engraved in that dark space of our mind, refusing to be forgotten, and held close to that hidden part, that soul, that makes each person distinct and unique. The fingerprint of every person we have met is left on our skin, in our hearts, and at the very core of our minds. Words we have heard and read, as well as spoken. Sights we have seen, both beautiful and terrible. Feelings that have grasped us tightly. Tastes that have tangled our tongues. People, places, objects, and actions-we are never free, except in that confusing moment of ending.
When each of us was young, we had the opportunity to be a child. Some, luckier than others, had a more lasting opportunity. When each of us became older, we had the chance to learn and grow still further, and greater. Some, reacting more intensely than others, had a more fulfilling outcome as they grabbed chance and made it into their definite life, learning, and overall reality. As each of us grows still, we have the good, and sometimes bad, fortune of still many more experiences to be had. We are to have innumerably more imprints upon our personalities, memories, and perhaps most importantly, our souls. And this is the essence of living.
And, so, I ask once more, do you remember the feeling of ending? Does it thrill you, moving you to the brink of uncontainable excitement and anxiousness? Does it scare you, creeping around inside your mind’s world, popping up, unbidden and unwanted? Does it cause an ache that you quite touch or point out, coursing through your veins, and pushing the edges of your sanity and wellbeing? What moment is drawn to the forefront of your mind amidst all these feelings that threaten to overtake you? How do you react to the reappearance of such a moment in your mind’s eye?
It is peculiar, the moments that you will be drawn to, and the endings you will both miss deeply and wish to stray far away from. Sometimes it frightens even me to unearth the thoughts my head contains, as if my head has departed my mind at times, and I have somehow been completely unaware of the separation. We all have those moments, when we feel as though we are outside of ourselves, experiencing and yet not, and in that we can glimpse the very pinnacle of ending.
Endings are hard to face, be it a goodbye to a happy day or a somber farewell to a bit of confusion, or the close to something that you have long seen coming. A reader knows the feeling that comes when the last page of a book is turned and there is no more to be read but an unquenchable want for just that. A writer knows the urge that never quits but the inspiration that takes short breathes and breaks. An artist knows the need to continue making their art but the obstacles of money and acceptance that often block their way. A soldier knows the dedication that is required with their signed service but also the training and memories that will follow them long after retirement. And a teacher knows, above all else, the need to share, and thus their devotion is without true end.
My most recent ending came as I reread each of the Harry Potter books, experiencing again the brilliance of J.K. Rowling’s Hogwarts School and the characters she so skillfully wrote into existence within and outside of it’s walls. And thus the ending of the last book’s final page came again. My generation, as well as those shortly before and after, were especially fortunate to be able to grow along with these tales, and experience the world within the lines; however, I believe that these books will go on, spreading more endings, and inspiring more people. This author, this woman, achieved one thing that others have only guessed and tried at-an idea which the character of Dumbledore so often addressed and so few believed-the power to spread love and love one another.
Yes, I am a fangirl and, yes, I know that these stories are just books, read by many, and still unread by more. But these books have been more than magic and fairy tales, more than glimpses of a non-reality and the characters one woman’s mind could create. Somehow, these books have formed a community, and within every community their is some of love and connectedness. The readers, the people delving always further in the world of the books, are unique and lovely. They seek more still, crave more books, and they are not afraid of that which their mind possesses without their full knowing.
What could be wrong with a series such as this that has such a fierce power to unite people through the pages and the movies that reflect them? What could be wrong with being a fan of something so inspirational? What could be wrong with endings? The answer to each is simple: there is nothing wrong.
Mylifeinverse 