Last Days

As the countdown progresses to my departure from Indiana (I start driving back to Colorado on the morning of June 18th), every day brings a bittersweet "last" of something:

Last half-priced flavored martini at the Swizzle Stick (their Wednesday special), sitting outside on the courthouse square on a June evening. Tip: order the ginger-tini.

Last summer classical music concert at Gobin church, yesterday evening featuring exquisite music for cello, harp, saxophone, and percussion.

Last long chat with a colleague about which students we loved best this past semester and why (this is the kind of thing DePauw faculty can talk about for hours even weeks after commencement).

Last lunch at the Downtown Deli, where the waitress greets me by asking, "So, the tuna melt again today? Or didn't you say last time you wanted to mix it up by ordering the gourmet grilled cheese?"

Last trip to the Putnam County Library to go downstairs to the children's room to see what recent titles have appeared on their NEW BOOKS shelf and to chat with Cortina, the wonderful children's librarian.

Last black raspberry ice cream at Dairy Castle, in the baby-sized sundae with hot fudge sauce. Well, actually, probably not the last one of those quite yet!

Each time I have one of these "lasts" I wish I  were staying in Greencastle a little bit longer, so I could savor one more Gobin concert, or tuna melt, or ginger-tini. But if I did, then THAT one would become the last one. I would have postponed the sweet sadness of the "last one," but there would still have to be a last one at some point.

My consolation is to tell myself: not the last one forever. Just the last one, for now.