The ship has sailed...

There are certain moments that are definitive endings; though not endings of actual situations but rather endings of possible situations. Possible futures. Possible choices. They are signature moments that are the emotional equivalent of watching a ship slipping over the horizon and knowing, finally, that it has sailed and will not be turning around. It is the moment in which there is no choice but to say goodbye to the future that might have been. Goodbye to the maybes and ifs and secret hopes that enter a mind uninvited though perhaps not unwelcome and fill idle moments with a giddy smile or a gleaming eye. There will be smiles to come but, at least for a while, they will be wistful and wondering. Smiles full of what might have been instead of what might yet be. The reality of what the situation would have been is irrelevant and now will always be far less true than what had been imagined.

Horrible overused clichés and truisms always come popping to mind in situations like this. Things about God, doors and windows as though God was a butler or housekeeper of some kind with nothing better to do than regulate air flow. Useless stinking clichés that do nothing to ease the moment. That stupid window might be in Bulgaria for all anyone knows and what good will it do there? The Bulgarians will surely appreciate it but it does nothing for anyone here.

And certainly that new opportunity will be simply amazing... unparalleled bliss from end to end. When it comes it will wipe all memory of that closed door completely from the mind. How could it be otherwise with such an all powerful air flow conductor. So all that can be done is to remember that the opened window is a lovely bay window with beveled glass and the kind of pillows that are just right for leaning against while reading some classic Bulgarian literature.