Every great story has a beginning, middle and end
… but not necessarily in that order.
~ Phil Kaye
I first heard of Phil Kaye from a suicidal friend. He would post a particular snippet from Phil Kaye's Beginning, Middle and End, and I would wonder why he was so fixated on that line: "If you wake up wake up wake up wake up wake up, one day you'll forget why."
When people decide to take their life, they do not think about dying. In fact, they do not want to die: they just want the pain and the fear and the hurt to go away. They want to be able to go through life and enjoy all of its beauty, because we would all agree that being suicidal is a sure-fire way of missing out on all the good things of life.
So every time my friend quoted that snippet from Phil Kaye's poem, I would urge him to give life his best shot again. Easier said than done, I know, but isn't it better to go knowing you have given life your all than to stop halfway and tell yourself you can't keep going anymore?
We regret all of the actions we did not take.
Every great relationship has a beginning, middle, and end, and the most beautiful part of it all is that we don’t know when the relationship would begin, nor do we know when it’d end. I usually argue with a lot of people that you don’t enter into a relationship with your partner the day you say "yes" to them. You are in a relationship with your partner the first time you see them. The first time you touch them. The first time you talk to them. The first time you sensed their energy.
Why then does it have to end? All the memories and promises dying with the last embers of your relationship’s fire? I’d never really know, but the closest explanation I can give is that life would be very predictable and less fun if we always get what we want. Imagine being with someone for the rest of your life. Along the line, you’d start to lose respect for them. Why? Because you do not know life without them, and you can’t imagine it. You just believe they’d always be there for you, and that takes away the novelty.
I'm writing this with a broken heart. My friend did die, and for a while after his death, I would tell myself: "Rachael, if you wake up wake up wake up wake up wake up, one day you'll forget why." So, I try to give myself a reason to wake up each morning. Some days I fail, some days I win. I live for both days.
Darling, remember: If you wake up wake up wake up wake up wake up, one day, you’ll forget why.
