“Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened.“

– Dr. Seuss

Just as the Buddhists accept the impermanence of all things, so do many other faiths and traditions. Nothing lasts forever. Every cell of our body is constantly dying and being replaced by a newly-born cell ready to take its places. Some parts of our body aren’t the same “us” that we were only moments ago. So, how can we hope for things to stay the same?

Knowing that nothing will stay the same, what can we do about that sense of loss for things the way they were?

Dr. Seuss would have us simply accept what is by celebrating it with joy. Like a celebratory wake after someone’s passing, smiling because it happened can let us keep it alive in one sense, while also letting it go.