The End of an Era

If all things must pass, even a pyramid won’t last.

“What Goes Up” by Alan Parsons Project

Maybe the Mayans really were on to something.

I say this because today marks the end of an era; the complete and utter demise of something that had been an integral part of my life for so long and something I thought I’d never see in my lifetime. And before you think it’s about giving up blogging then you’d better think again, buddy. (Besides, I tried that in 2009 with little success.)

No, what I’m talking about is this (and ignore that URL—it’s for my old blog):

My neighbor first put this up back in 2004 and it would make a return every holiday season. Then after Christmas of 2007, the sign remained on the roof permanently. Here’s a picture taken in June of 2008, with my watch display for emphasis:

As the years went on, the rugged old sign began to show signs of fatigue. After all, constant exposure to the elements will do that to wood and presumably, one that wasn’t treated with the proper protectant nor designed to be on display for more than a month.

Then we looked up one day and saw that the sign very much looked like an unsolved Wheel of Fortune puzzle for it read “HAPPY BI THDAY JESU.” The R and last S were the first letters to go. Time definitely took its toll because after our last major rainstorm, here’s how it looked:

We wondered how long it would last.

It ended today when I got a text from Ann telling me that their gardeners were on the roof taking it down and by the time they were done…

…whoosh, it was gone. What’s remaining is nothing but a pile of sand from the sandbags that once held the sign in place. The gardeners later destroyed the sign that would illuminate nightly at midnight and chucked its pieces in the trash.

There are still a few wires and broken bulbs out in the street. I managed to salvage this as some kind of twisted souvenir:

It sits on my computer desk as a memory of the sign the entire neighborhood knew about and made fun of, not because of its religious connection but because it was up there for so long and we were all left to wonder when it would finally be taken down.

After 8 years (and 5 years of constant exposure), we will now mark May 8, 2012 in our calendars as the day the ridiculousness finally ended.

What goes up must indeed come down.