Another brief rumination. The year started out with some melancholia as multiple well-known public figures left the world in such a tragic, shocking haste.  Of course, none was known personally to me but I felt as broken as the bereaved. All of the departed left behind grief-stricken spouses and children and by all accounts were loving, charismatic husbands, fathers and sons. I listened to this haunting piece by Coldplay and wondered about the biggest risk in life which is to love another being so utterly and deeply that their passing would obliterate a big part of us. The kind of love you expect to experience with and for your child, your life partner, your family, but the one that has the most lethal force to destroy us, once removed. Subconsciously or consciously, it’s no wonder that many find raw, all-encompassing love, frankly, a complex and terrifying prospect. So much to gain, but what if you eventually lose? A wise person once said to me that even if that soul-defining love is one day taken from you, you wouldn’t want to erase all the beauty that you gained from it. I’d like to believe this, and in better days, I really do. In other days though… I have my doubts.

For now, enjoy Chris Martin’s dulcet rendition of the transient tenderness of love.