"It was the last night before sorrow touched her life"

After rehearsing (almost every day since December) for a community theatre production of the musical, Anne of Green Gables, my son Jonah is down with a cold and can’t perform tonight.

There’s only one show and he’s not going to be in it.

And there’s nothing we can do about it.

It reminds me so much of how I felt when my wife died. Death is so final and it's drenched in the sorrow of acceptance. Once it touches you that deeply, your whole life isn’t the same. In fact, I think these two lines from the novel, Anne of Green Gables, sum up the feeling:

“Anne always remembered the silvery, peaceful beauty and fragrant calm of that night. It was the last night before sorrow touched her life; and no life is ever quite the same again when once that cold, sanctifying touch has been laid upon it.”

Ever seen one of those crucifixion movies? The first nail being hammered through Jesus’ hand looks brutal. The second one, is not so bad. Still horror though. But a hell that’s lost its horror.

After Nicole’s death, every other loss is just the second or third nail.

Anyway, I'm going to see if Jonah and one of the NINE Annes in the play (I had suggested they rename the play The Annvasion of Avonlea) can work with his music teacher to put together a YouTube cover of one or two of the songs from the musical.

Never say die.

If you don’t like how a story ends, that’s because it’s not done.

John C.A. Manley

PS You can enjoy some of Jonah’s other covers and skits, going back to when he was seven, at https://jonahsworld.net/ 

John C. A. Manley is the author of Much Ado About Corona: A Dystopian Love Story, the forthcoming All The Humans Are Sleeping and other works of speculative fiction. Get free samples of his stories by becoming a Blazing Pine Cone email subscirber at: https://blazingpinecone.com/subscribe/