{"id":4742,"date":"2026-07-18T22:53:22","date_gmt":"2026-07-19T03:53:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/askmrsmom.com\/?p=4742"},"modified":"2026-07-20T13:33:26","modified_gmt":"2026-07-20T18:33:26","slug":"dont-stop-the-music","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/askmrsmom.com\/?p=4742","title":{"rendered":"Don’t stop the music…"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Lately I have been thinking about endings. I recently finished two highly acclaimed novels. One ended so abruptly I found it jarring and completely unsatisfying. The other, I was only disappointed because I did not want to leave the world the author had created.<\/p>\n

Endings are difficult for me, as I suspect they are for many of us. The end of a friendship, the end of a relationship, the end of a season, the end of a day, the end of a life. Some people prefer beginnings when everything is fresh, shiny and new.\u00a0 These folks go from person to person, job to job, city to city.\u00a0 They embrace possibility more than permanence. They start anew, ride out the middles and move on before they have to endure the end.<\/p>\n

I remember a friend and I were on vacation together. As I waxed poetic about the orange and purple magic developing on the evening horizon in front of us, she said flatly, “I hate sunsets.\u00a0 They make me sad.”<\/p>\n

At the time, I considered how differently we felt about the same sunset. I am not a morning person. I seldom see a sunrise but rarely want to miss a sunset. Recently, I have been wondering how these sorts of preferences affect how we move through life and inform our personal outlook.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

One of the more poignant moments with my father before he died was not our last goodbye or his “touch and go” moments in the hospital.\u00a0 We were sitting on the couch in my childhood home, enjoying the sounds and smells of my children baking with my mom in the kitchen. Knowing his prognosis was terminal, he patted my hand and said softly, “I just want to know how it all turns out.”<\/p>\n

Now that I am older, and I have lived more days than I have left, I can’t imagine I will ever be ready to say this is enough. Even on my bluest days, I am just not one of those people.<\/p>\n

My oldest grandson recently got his license.\u00a0 His first step toward real independence.\u00a0 He went to bed that evening with a fever and headache. But you can be sure he popped off the pillow the next morning, dripping in sweat, said he was fine and drove to summer school. Alone at the wheel. Going the speed he chose, with the music turned up, no one to tell him how to do it. He wasn’t just driving to school; he was at the beginning of his wide open independent future. I remember that moment. An exhilarating mixture of freedom, anticipation peppered with a tiny bit of angst.<\/p>\n

Maybe life isn’t neatly divided into beginnings and endings. Perhaps that is why my father’s words still echo within me.\u00a0 I tend to feel that we are only assured today, this moment, this chapter. And most days I accept that as enough. But sometimes on an especially good day where everything seems to fall into place and I am filled with the overwhelming joy of existence, I want to keep it all, box it up, and see how it all turns out.<\/p>\n

I hope my dad is somewhere sharing those best moments with me. And if he is not, I hold his words in my heart.\u00a0 And I tell him that, on those best days, it is turning out better than we could have imagined.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lately I have been thinking about endings. I recently finished two highly acclaimed novels. One ended so abruptly I found it jarring and completely unsatisfying. The other, I was only disappointed because I did not want to leave the world the author had created. Endings are difficult for me, as I suspect they are for …<\/p>\n

>>Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4742","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nDon't stop the music... - askmsmom.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/askmrsmom.com\/?p=4742\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Don't stop the music... - askmsmom.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Lately I have been thinking about endings. I recently finished two highly acclaimed novels. One ended so abruptly I found it jarring and completely unsatisfying. 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