Eeyore On Endings

"A Tail isn't a Tail to them, it's just a Little Bit Extra at the back." - Eeyore

Eeyore is always having tail troubles. His tail falls off. It gets misplaced. The tail gets used as a door pull. None of his other friends in The Hundred Acre Wood seems to appreciate Eeyore's struggles,

perhaps,

because his beginnings are still in evidence -his ears,

his grumpy wit,

his nose,

his droopy eyes,

making Eeyore's ending not so noticeable when it goes missing.

Beginnings are like that filling our senses with change and excitement so that sometimes endings aren't very obvious.

They become just a Little Bit Extra at the back.

But Not Always.

My daughter returned home from her honeymoon last week. On Sunday she and her new husband came over and opened gifts. They loaded up their car with new dishes and towels, sheets and photo frames. Lots of photo frames.

And then my newlywed girl went to her childhood room and grabbed everything that had not already been moved over to their apartment before the wedding. She grabbed makeup and a stack of clothes, a hair straightener and a pillow.

But she left behind just a Little Bit Extra--

Hair pins that held her veil.

A few tacks on her penguin-stenciled wall that we painted together when she was in elementary school.

A single rose petal.

Some favorite girlhood shirts she couldn't throw away. Made by her grandmother. And others.

Her wedding dress.

Standing in her near-empty room, I found myself agreeing with Eeyore:

sometimes endings are more than just a Little Bit Extra at the back.