Todd and Dorothy left for California this morning. Gus and Jane and I drove in the van with them to the airport so we could all say goodbye.
After they left, Gus climbed into the front passenger seat just like always. As Jane was leaning over to fasten his seatbelt so it wouldn’t make that beeping noise, she said, “Parting is such sweet sorrow.”
We both looked at her funny, but she couldn’t see the question marks over our heads because she was pulling away from the curb. So then Gus looked over at me and I spoke up. I said, “Hey. That doesn’t make any sense. Those are opposite things.”
“It’s Shakespeare,” she said. “From Romeo and Juliette.”
I said, “So? It still doesn’t make any sense because doesn’t it kind of have to be one or the other? Sorrow means sad and sweet means delicious. How can sadness be delicious?”
Gus wasn’t saying anything, just staring straight ahead playing navigator, but I could tell his ears perked up when I said “delicious.”
Jane said that you can love someone a whole lot and then feel sad to see them go, but the fact that they have to leave makes you feel how much you love them even more than if they were there the whole time. You know?
I said, “Sort of like when Todd and Gus go for a walk without me and I sit and wait for them to come home?”
“Yes,” she said. “Exactly, like that. When they are there, you don’t long for their presence, but when they go away, you get to feel how much you miss them. That’s the sweet part.”
“Nah,” said Gus. That’s not the sweet part. That’s the sorrow part. The sweet part is when they come home again and we get to rush up and greet them!!! That’s the Best part!”
“Good point,” said Jane. “I guess that is the best part. But missing them is sweet, too. Sad, but sweet at the same time.”
“I get it,” I said. “Can we roll the windows down now?
And so she did and we inhaled the Spring air at 70 mph. And THAT was truly Delicious!
This post first appeared in the blog https://codythewonderfuldog.com/
