Closing Time

The class song for my senior class was Closing Time. The lyrics for this redundant number are below...I always thought this song was about being out late at night before the bar closed. I read recently, though, that it is about birth and the baby leaving the womb for the unknown. I couldn't help but think of this song as I realized something tonight in a completely different context.

Nine years ago on this day, I made the decision to leave life as I knew it in York, Pennsylvania to follow a dream down in North Carolina. I prepared to be a special educator from 1998-2002 then in 2010, I made a leap to start working on my doctorate! It is wild to think that I have now been in higher education for nine years!

Looking at these pictures of places where I have been from hanging in our home tonight makes me wonder what beginning will come from some other beginning's end in the next nine years? I bought the Pittsburgh picture in the black frame back in college when Dad and I were picking up last minute Christmas gifts from the mall by my Grandma's house. At the time, I had no idea what life would end up looking like or that four states and twelve years later, I would wind up within 45 minutes of the Steel City again on my way to becoming a wife and mom. The Greensboro painting was a goodbye gift from dear friends as I prepared to leave North Carolina but what the couple who gave it to me could not have known is that this scene reminds me of a special moment. That scene takes me back to the romantic cold night when Adam and I went ice skating in the outdoor rink by those city buildings before winding up at a local brewery a few blocks away where he shared shocking news with me that he was falling in love!

Hmm...I just realized I don't have a picture to represent when I lived in Delaware! I do, however, have some letter tiles that spell out Lewes (the name of the small beach town where I lived) that are in display in the same room. My hometown of Frackville is not represented on this wall either. However, I have a bunch of fall foliage pictures from there hanging up elsewhere in our home so that is probably okay. ;) 

This was a parting gift from the Study Abroad Program. It now hangs in our living room so I can see it every day - - our most recent new and now former home.

When I purchased this during an Art Festival (yeah, Kipona!), I had expected to live in this area for a long time. Little did I know that York was going to become a cherished new hometown. York remains a place I would return to in a heartbeat!

How cute are these magnets created by the same artist who made the prints of York from my Wall of Places I've Lived... I may need a second fridge just for the magnets I want from this stock photo on the artist's website!! ;} 

The last few days I have been pondering how folks set out to move forward and over obstacles, with all these thoughts of literal and figurative places to be, to keep from being stuck in a rut.

Some avoid.

Some run away (think fight or fight) and some deny anything is wrong.

Some face their challenges head on while others bury their heads in the sand.

The main theme that seems to come up is perspective. When one changes how something is viewed and how to live with whatever the "it" is, growth can occur. The other day, I heard an interesting view about suffering. It went something like this: Healing may not look the way you think it will. A person may still die of disease. Yet through that illness, the person was able to offer it up for a loved one or the person experienced a conversion of the heart that may not otherwise have happened. This means the suffering was not in vain even if the person did not experience a cure.

I have been thinking of the concept of redemptive suffering a bit since hearing that reminder. Jesus did not promise things would be easy or that things would stay the same. What he did promise is that he will never abandon us and what a terrific reminder of this through today being Pentecost Sunday! Come, Holy Spirit! No matter where we live or what we have done in our lives to separate us from the Lord...God wants us to come to Him and to rely on Him. Unlike city or state lines, God's grace knows no boundaries.  Sometimes the forgiveness we are seeking has to come from within ourselves.

Closing time 
Time for you to go out go out into the world. 
Closing time 
Turn the lights up over every boy and every girl. 
Closing time 
One last call for alcohol so finish your whiskey or beer. 
Closing time 
You don't have to go home but you can't stay here.

I know who I want to take me home. 
I know who I want to take me home. 
I know who I want to take me home. 
Take me home

Closing time 
Time for you to go back to the places you will be from. 
Closing time 
This room won't be open 'til your brothers or you sisters come. 
So gather up your jackets, and move it to the exits 
I hope you have found a 
Friend.

Closing time 
Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end.

Yeah, I know who I want to take me home. 
I know who I want to take me home. 
I know who I want to take me home. 
Take me home

Closing time 
Time for you to go back to the places you will be from

I know who I want to take me home. 
I know who I want to take me home. 
I know who I want to take me home. 
Take me home

Closing time 
Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end