kaboom

What follows is just about my favorite ending to just about my favorite book, so maybe I shouldn't have pointed out either of those things. That said, this weekend was another too short, too nice trip to a place where there are waves, and no alarms, and innumerable bad things to eat -- all for a holiday we had to return home to before it was over.

And it had me thinking about a lot of things, but as the worst bus ride ever slowly gave way to a skyline of manhattan and the obligatory pyrotechnic celebrations that follow each year, I found myself running this through my head, again and again and again:

They were letting off fireworks down at the waterfront, the sky exploding in grenades of colour. Whatever it is that pulls the pin, that hurls you past the boundaries of your own life into a brief and total beauty, even for a moment, it is enough.