an obituary

burlington, vermont. at ten fifteen am, on march 19th 2024, emma and luke's relationship of two years and six months fell into a coma, and passed away peacefully in its sleep five days later. an ultimately good-natured but saddening demise, the breakup occurred conclusively in an unremarkable yet charming diner in st. albans, vermont, over plates of greek salad, one reuben, fries, coffee, and cheesecake for dessert. it was succeeded by one last hurrah, in which the pair attended at a sidney gish and jeff rosenstock concert together at beloved music venue higher ground. a weird but good time was had by all, involving much dancing and a limited amount of moshing or, as emma prefers to call it, enthusiastic jumping at the fringe of a giant crowd of tall humans crashing into one another to the tune of a man in a cutoff tank yelling only partially comprehensible but undeniably rockin’ lyrics into a microphone.

the relationship was marked by lovely times and travels together, many laughs, a surprising proportion of road tripping, oodles of so-called punk music, and plenty of charm, but it ultimately succumbed to that particular viral cocktail that claims so many two-year ish relationships: many months of long-distance, incompatible goals, slight differences of personality that became amplified and acquired meaningful significance over time, and a deadly strain of influenza.

immediate survivors include emma and luke, who have each emerged from the fallout relatively unscathed and with a more or less intact sense of self. one party who will not be named has, however, experienced many interesting moments of reflection in the days since, mostly revolving around the theme of moving to a teeny rural town in an isolated valley in an unfamiliar northeastern state in the month of march in the name of love and hope only to break up more or less immediately upon arriving, and that’s fine, RIGHT?!?! hmmmm. oh well, at least she got a cool farming job out of it and had an excuse to work with some very lovely goats for a while. despite such reckonings, the two hope to remain friends and have shared several pleasant and expectedly strange but nice phone calls in the weeks ensuing. and UPDATE as of today (may 5th) the two actually met up for a very reasonable lunch. so they do seem to be friends now. mostly yay.

a funeral service will be held in craftsbury, vermont at a date and time tbd. friends and family are kindly invited to visit (whether in commiseration or for other more fun reasons) if and whenever they are able, please o please do come visit, emma is having a nice time here, but there are approximately three twenty-somethings in this whole town, and most of them are her coworkers, and she misses her wheeling friends. emma does acknowledge, though, that craftsbury is a maddening twelve hour drive away from the northern panhandle. flowers and condolences not required, unless the former are dried and pressed and sealed in an envelope spritzed with perfume and sealed with a kiss, to be delivered to 535 lost nation road, zip code 05827, in which case they are strongly encouraged. sept 2021 - mar 2024.

originally written for the wheeling cacophony orchestra, vol. 1 (spring)