“My Heart Is Afraid that it will have to suffer," the boy told the alchemist one night as they looked up at the moonless sky. “Tell your heart that the fear of suffering is worse than the suffering itself. And that no heart has ever suffered when it goes in search of its dreams."

~Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist

It’s the last day of May, and I believe the clouds are wringing out the last of their moisture, dripping it carelessly across this normally dry land. They say that even with the continuous rain for what must have been forever (actually, less than a week), the month of May has been dryer than normal. Funny how what seems impossible can be real.

There are only two days of school remaining for our seniors. That seems impossible. A week left of this college term for me, and my last paper completed today. I never thought I’d finish. My youngest turned 19 last month, my oldest 21 on Friday; just yesterday they were babies, I swear. How could they have grown into such fine young men so quickly? I didn’t take my eyes off of them for a minute… or at least I tried not to.

A good friend is saying goodbye. At this moment my heart is like the boy’s, fearing the pain that is sure to come with parting. Perhaps the Alchemist is right, that the fear is worse than the suffering. But what if shelter is only found in the pursuit of dreams? Ok, so I guess I also have dreams, but the sweetest ones are of the one who is leaving. Maybe it's time to focus on solitary dreams. Man, it feels like I’ve been doing that forever…

So if all this is illusion, perhaps there is no real parting anyway. No separation. I can find a little comfort there, but not much. One day my soul whispered softly, “ah… my friend, there you are…I've been looking everywhere for you.”. Maybe there will be another reunion in this life. Or maybe the separation really is just an illusion. Yeah, funny how the impossible can be real.