Sadness and SPACE

So today, I learned that the guy who used to direct the creative writing program at my old school (it was an art school and I attended for creative writing) is retiring. That was pretty sad for me. It was like some fundamental part of the universe went wrong. And it fully hit me, too, that most of the people who were my friends and acquaintances last year from that school graduated this year. And both of these facts felt like real personal losses to me. And I'm not trying to get melodramatic or anything, but I think one of the parts of my life that makes me saddest is the fact that I keep "losing" things (i.e. stuff enters my life and it leaves almost as soon as it enters, or I lose parts of my life I never thought I'd lose). And these losses made me sad.

And I was thinking about this stuff and being very sad over it, and Doctor Who came to mind for some reason. I don't know if you watch the TV show Doctor Who (I love it) but the actor who plays the current Doctor (the Eleventh) is leaving the show this year at Christmas. We'll be getting another actor who plays the Twelfth Doctor (he hasn't been announced yet, but this is one of the things I've been looking forward to because even though I'm losing my favorite Doctor, I'm gaining a new one). So I thought, "Well, at least I'll gain something in seven months, when the current guy leaves Doctor Who and we get the Twelfth Doctor. Because at least getting a new character on my favorite TV show is something." And then I realized this WASN'T really gaining something, because it necessitated the loss of one of my favorite Doctors, and this was sad to me.

However, my mood recovered when my aunt needed me to do something for her and I ended up going to her house and hanging out there. She got me food, which was probably the main thing that did it, in terms of restoring how I felt. She got me pizza and she let me eat the tiramisu in her fridge. It was while I was eating these rather unhealthy foods that I realized something.

I'm in space.

Allow me to explain. I am in the universe. This is a pretty undeniable fact. But when you think of "the universe", you think of outer space, don't you? And you would be correct. The vast, vast most of the universe is in what we'd call "outer space". And if you were from another planet, I bet you'd consider Earth to be "outer space". "Oh, those Earth people, those space folks, doing their own spacey sorts of things...eating pizza and cake, going to art schools..." Something like that.

But technically, this means I'm in outer space.

Once I got over the surreal shock of this fact, I realized that it made everything I did at least 1,000% more awesome. "I'm eating cake...in space!" "Doing the dishes...in space!" "Walking down a hall...in space!" "Crashing into a wall...IN SPACE!"
No matter what losses I suffered in my life, at least I could take a small bit of comfort in the fact that, no matter what I lost, I lost it IN SPACE. And I don't know about you, but for me, if I'm doing it in space, then it can't be all that bad.

My advice to you, then, is this. No matter what losses you suffer, no matter who leaves where, no matter what you have to say goodbye to for a bittersweet gain, just remember. It's happening in space. And when you realize that it happens in space, it gets a little bit better.