The Ellipsis

Just for the sake of perspective, thirteen years ago, the number one movie was Finding Nemo.  The number one album was from Outkast.  Remember that song Heyya?  I know you don't or wouldn't if you were still here.  2003, okay, 2003 and the recent years leading up to it, were a blur to you.  It's okay.  The 90s are a blur to me.

I don't laugh anymore. 

At some point in the 90s, you stumbled out of the house and started rambling on about some new show called Friends.  It's hillarious, you said.  So, I watched it with you.  It was the first or second season and to be honest, it was awful.  It grew on me over time because well, the writing got better.  Ross got rid of that fucking monkey. 

We used to make fun of you for living in the past.  Fuck, you were 33 years old.  Why couldn't you wait until your mid-forties to relive those glory days?  Like me.  Now.

I think about that all the time... 
this notion that you shouldn't look back or talk about how it once was. 

It's bullshit.  I was 13 years old talking about how life was better when I was 12.  It's okay to look back and reminisce or even dwell in your past.  Lo siento, mi amigo for the jokes.  You know Al Bundy always talked about his 4 touchdowns against Polk HIgh.  It's supposed to be a big punchline on that sitcom.  Be proud of your achievements, your experiences, your good times... You most certainly were.  

The problem is you had so many more waiting ahead for you BUT here we are 13 years later filling in the blanks for you...

It all seems like a lifetime ago.  Another life.  Not mine.  It's as if I am just retelling a movie I've watched a hundred times.  I don't laugh anymore at all those punchlines.  Now, I am just relying on a laugh track from some old sitcom...

We get older and those comedies we once lived turn into sad movies. 

We used to love with intensity.  Now, it's just a dull thud.  What was drama then is now just an ellipsis.  Everything ended with a period.  Should have stuck with the ellipsis, my friend.  You'd still be here.  I am sure of it.

Thirteen years ago, the inevitable came to be.  Little Mike yelled your name at your funeral.  If there was a dry eye in that church prior to his cry, they weren't dry anymore.   That's pretty much all I remember about that year....  Little Mike's scream echoing in the packed sanctuary.

Man, you were loved.  Still are.

The ellipsis exists for a reason.  It's my favorite punctuation mark...

Because we all should have favorites of everything.