Saying goodbye

"It's another day in the neighborhood," I hear Mr. Rogers singing, another ordinary day in the neighborhood.  The sun rose, the clouds puffed up and reflected in the lagoon, and yet... It's just not an ordinary day at all for some people -- especially not for a couple I know who pulled the plug -- at 11:11 on 11-1-11,  as per their daughter's wishes -- this morning. 

Lauren, or Lala as she is known by friends and family, had just turned 21, and succumbed to her third bout of cancer this week.  It was, by all accounts, a beautifully handled death, but still -- it's got to be hard to bear; hard for her friends and family to deal with the fact that the sun still rises and life goes on for the rest of the world.

I keep hearing that old song -- I think it came out while I was in grade school --

Why do the birds go on singing?
Why do the stars glow above?
Don't they know it's the end of the world.
It ended when I lost your love.

I wake up in the morning and I wonder,
Why everything's the same as it was.
I can't understand. No, I can't understand,
How life goes on the way it does.

Why does my heart go on beating?
Why do these eyes of mine cry?
Don't they know it's the end of the world.
It ended when you said goodbye.

Why does my heart go on beating?
Why do these eyes of mine cry?
Don't they know it's the end of the world.
It ended when you said goodbye.

I'm so sorry.  I know all things come to an end at some point.  But some things just end too soon.