165 – Last

Click the video above for 2 minutes of background waves while reading.

I like to walk on the beach. It is good for the mind, body, and soul – and refreshing on my feet.

The time and events around closing my other blog were very emotional. After all, it was a special place for me for over 11 years. I planned the ending with a series, but many comments touched my heart. With the closing in mind, last is the theme for this walk – but this is not the last beach walk essay. Only the last post of 2022.

Photo by olia danilevich on Pexels.com

Last, as in final – coming after all the others – bringing up the rear, at the end, and the furthest back.

Terminal also means last – but I chuckle at the thought of going to the airport to begin a trip at the terminal. Then again, others ended their trip on the same plane at the same location.

A play’s last act is the concluding act leading to the ending – the finale. But sometimes, last means the least wanted – the least favorite. The remaining piece of candy in a box of assorted chocolates comes to mind. I won’t touch that last coconut cream.

I think about different lasts in my life. I think about Bobbie Jo, a childhood friend. I’m guessing she moved away when I was in second or third grade. We played a lot together. I remember sadness the day her family moved. I think about her when I pass her new town when I return to my hometown. Did she graduate from there? Is she still there? Is she still alive? Would she remember me? After all, she moved away over 60 years ago.

Photo by Valter Zhara on Pexels.com

I think about my last day of high school. I remember walking out the door that day full of glee – but after the graduation ceremony a week later, I was melancholy – not sad – just low-key. A long-time friend must have been feeling the same. As our classmates were partying, we went out for a hamburger, then each of us went home.

I easily recall my last day in college marching band. It wasn’t the last home football game honoring seniors because I knew there was still more. It wasn’t the following Monday night concert held after the last home game – and yes – seniors were honored again. It was the next day – in a high school gym about an hour from campus where we played a concert. After the final recognition, I sat in the chair with my head down while holding my horn – sobbing. Doing something I loved was over – the last time.

The last day in the classroom of my teaching career – a day that I knew – but only a few others knew. Saying nothing to the students about it, some students came to me saying they were looking forward to having me next year in another class – and me acting as if it was going to happen. Walking out of the classroom for the last time with a different feeling in my gut – only to eventually cry in the car as I was leaving the parking lot.

I think about the last day I saw my mother alive – lying in a hospital bed, unconscious, and her three-year battle with cancer about to end. I left at about 3 pm for the three-hour drive home hoping I would make it home before she died. I did – then got the call at 10 pm that night.

I think about ballroom dances because a waltz usually is the last dance. Yes, the event’s last dance on that given day, time, and place, but truly not the last dance.

Dance Waltz painting by Leonid Afremov

During my days as an independent contractor, deadlines monopolized the project’s closing days. Those last days of a project also meant downsizing the temporary team. Sometimes I knew when it was coming – other times not – yet a finality – the last time.

Last takes a different meaning when related to time, as with the latest, most recent, the previous, or prior – think last year, last month, last week – but when it comes to the last day, we say yesterday – except for last night.

When a person enters their last days of life, some receive last rites before taking their last breath. After passing, visitors will come to pay their last respects before the funeral’s last celebration of life, which ends at the body’s last resting spot.

Some of us are the last of the big spenders, while others are the last in so they can be the first out. At last count, life also gives us the last hurdle, the last minute, the last resort, the last chance, the last call, the last gasp, the last word, the last laugh, the last stand, and the last hurrah.

Hollywood has given us the Last of the Mohicans, The Last King, The Last Emperor, The Last Samurai, The Last Picture Show, and The Last Temptation of Christ. Meanwhile, Indiana Jones has the Last Crusade, Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Freddie the Final Nightmare, Jason the Final Friday, and detective Frank Drebin the Final Insult.

Photo by Martino Grua on Pexels.com

Life gives many lasts – all before the last minute and the last breath, and the last will and testament coming later. But The Last Time I Saw Her, she was standing waiting for the Last Train to Clarksville because she didn’t Save the Last Dance for Me. Is this evidence that nice guys finish last?

Last but not least, the last detail left is the last paragraph – but I admit that this was fun while it lasted. But there is one last thing – I like walking on the beach because it is good for the mind, body, and soul – and refreshing on my feet.

See what other bloggers have posted about Last

• One Last Sip (a haiku with images)
• Last Embers (a flash fiction very short story by an occasional visitor here)
• Last Chance (a photo essay by a visitor and past collaborator here)
• Last Thoughts (a poem)
• Last Chance 2022 (a photo essay)
• One Last Time (a poem by a visitor here)
• Last Chance (a photo essay by an occasional visitor here and past collaborator)

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