Life is Not Like a Box of Chocolates 

"Tuesday, August 20, 2013, 9:45 p.m. EDT. The Full Moon of August is usually called the Corn Moon, Sturgeon Moon, Red Moon, Green Corn Moon or Grain Moon." Image via space.com

Despite all our planning and intentions, sometimes the worst case scenario happens. Out of everything that could happen, that's the one that does. This, anecdotally of course, means that Forrest Gump was wrong and Life is not "like a box of chocolates" wherein you're not sure what you're going to get. Life, as John Lennon put it, is what happens to you when you're busy making plans. You plan, you map, you reconnoiter, you strategize, you guess at what the eventualities might be, and know your options for what Life may present you.

At least you hope. You hope for the best and expect the worst. So you think. Then, just when you were collecting the dice for your turn, Life happens to you. You knew it was a possibility but like a rope breaking from a pulley, it still shocks. Like a knee to your gut that winds you, you know what it is, and what caused it, and what's coming but that doesn't make it any less painful.

There you have it. Life is not a chocolate box, nor a board game, nor a party, nor a thing less-lived. It is exactly what you thought it would be – just not in the order or speed you thought it would happen.

The last few days, I've felt time expand. Like when you see a full glass at the edge of the table, and you know, you instinctively know, somehow, it will tip and spill, and when it happens and you see it start to go, you still reach for it; too late. Your hand can't move any faster than the falling glass and you watch the inevitability of gravity take its course.

The inevitability of gravity. That's a funny phrase. I met a man today who had been in an serious accident and was badly bruised and battered. He said he wished he was on the low-gravity surface of the moon to alleviate his pain. Coincidentally, tonight's new moon is a so called supermoon, when the moon is at its closest approach to the Earth. As it rose this evening it sat on the trees like a big golden peach. Now it's smack dab in the centre of the sky and no matter where you walk, it's hanging just above your Southern shoulder. A quiet celestial neighbour, keeping you company, outshining the stars and Klieg lights of the Canadian National Exhibition Grounds. I wish we were on the moon tonight, too. That lower gravity might take some weight off our shoulders.