I went through this entrance to the Lincoln Restaurant a hundred times, at least. Having breakfast there was a Sunday tradition in the days before my kids were born. And now, unfortunately, it’s shut down.
I hadn’t eaten there in a long while before it happened, and few restaurants get as long of a run as they had on Lincoln Avenue and Irving Park Road in Chicago. So worse things are going on in the world than this. And yet….
I wish there was some way to know when the last time I went there really would be the last time. And that goes for lots of things in life. If you know it’s the end, you can soak it all in and enjoy it a little bit more.
That’s what Barack Obama did at his second inauguration last year. He knew it wasn’t coming back again, so he spent a few seconds enjoying the view. There was something very human in that moment, no matter what anyone might think about him personally.
But we don’t always get that kind of a heads up. We go to places and we do things every day not knowing if, or whether ever, we’ll get a chance to do them again. Will the passport that I’m now waiting in line for be my last one? I hope it isn’t, but life won’t let me know that for certain, either.
The only thing to do is appreciate the uncertainty, and hope that the passport will get some use along the way. I’m sure that I’ll write something about it when it does.
Blue Batting Helmet 