And Yet Is A Full Sentence

This summer, in my mind, I broke the break down into nine weeks (full -not part, no meetings). That means that there are three sections made up of three weeks each, forming the beginning middle and end of summer vacation. There are three full weeks during which I don't have to go in to work. I went in last week, but it doesn't count. Once there are full staff meetings it's different. Going in during the summer, even for a meeting feels like going to a different place. It reminds me of students saying that they can have two different teachers in the same room, one right after the other, and it feels like two different rooms.

Today is the first day of the first of the final three weeks, the beginning of the end. Maybe that's why I'm feeling sad. Maybe it's the mourning for mom. Maybe it's the doorknob email I received late last night. At the end of an innocent exchange a friend shared news of his/her recent divorce with a "by the way." I've learned from other friends who share this news after the fact that by the time they've told you the final headline they are largely over the gory details. And yet you are hit hard by the news. Still, you don't want to comfort them for something regarding which they don't want comforting.

This friend didn't frame divorce as sad news, he/she could have been talking about having a couch cleaned, it was just the fact. I wrote back - not wanting to not address the issue - with some similarly parve response. And yet I felt the need to say something about hoping this friend is experiencing that all that happens in life is for the best. No reply. That's not unusual, months can sometimes pass. And yet. And yet. And yet.