And I’m not talking about shoe-making…it’s a week of “lasts” and endings and good-bye. Yesterday was my last class with HKR 4210 (what a great group of students I had this year). Today was my last Thursday hockey game. Tomorrow is my last Friday hockey game. Soon it will be my last walk up the hill. Last bag to pack. Last thing to check off the list. Lots of sadness in endings…speaking of which…last Ebert film reviews…R.I.P Roger Ebert.

But you can’t have firsts without lasts. You can’t begin without an ending. We can’t just add, sometimes we have to subtract. You can’t say hello without a good-bye…eventually. My year most often unfolds in 4 months chunks…semesters…opportunities to begin anew over and over again every spring, winter, and summer…I often fit my expeditions into the spaces between semesters (like the coming one) and so as I am getting ready/packing/training, I am also finishing up/grading/evaluation…opening up a new adventure while at the same time, putting another one away. Summits and valleys. Valleys and summits. Comings and goings. Leavings and returnings.

Just recently, I learned about contronyms (how is that I didn’t learn this term in my first 47 years?). A contronym is a single word that has two contradictory meanings. In the space of both finishing and starting, I feel like I am a contronym. Remember when we were kids in school and we had to write sentences with new vocabulary words…that’s what I just did. My life as a contronym…or as I often like to say, “we are the sum of our contradictions.”

Reading student journals, putting my St. John’s life to bed, pushing hard to get everything done it time…all invite a reflective mind set…and I’m eager to indulge it…one step at a time, slowly gaining altitude, step by step…making my way from 2700 meters to almost 6500 meters…bring on the world of white and blue and stark understanding…new view with every foot gained…memories to last a lifetime.