The Final Curtain

Happy or sad, it seems that endings always make me cry.  Tonight was no exception, as we shared some family togetherness time watching the series finale of Glee.

There's just something about the end of a show that gets to me. I also enjoyed the series finale of Parenthood earlier this year, and shed my share of tears there too.

I'll admit that I've not always been a Gleek.  I was a bit late to the party, but I'm glad that it's a show I tuned in for.

One day when Grace was taking a nap, I was looking for something to watch and found Glee on our instant Netflix list.  Kyle thought I might like it, but I was skeptical about watching a show about geeky high school kids.  I felt like I lived enough of that in my own high school experience.

But that particular day I couldn't find anything else on TV and thought I would give it a shot.  As luck would have it, Grace took a short nap that day, and I only managed to see about half an episode.  It wasn't the characters or even the storylines that captivated me.  It was the music.  And I've been a Gleek ever since.

Since I didn't get to watch the entire episode, Kyle decided he would watch it with me, and we've seen nearly every episode together and many of them with Grace.  One of my favorite videos we've taken is of Grace standing up next to the ottoman and dancing to the music.  It was so sweet.

Over the years, the cast sang many of my favorite Broadway songs and I even learned to love a few new songs.  But I also grew to enjoy the characters and the storylines too.  I found myself reliving some of my high school awkwardness as I watched and shared in their struggles.

Always the one to root for happy endings, I was very sad when Cory Monteith died midway through the series.  I somehow knew that Finn and Rachel would end up together, found myself hoping for that happy ending.

But in life, endings aren't always happy.  It doesn't mean the journey can't be great, but tonight, in the end, Finn and Rachel didn't end up together, because he wasn't there. And that made me sad.

Life is so hard sometimes.  I think that's been the hardest part about Grace's diagnosis, knowing that she might not get that happy ending, that we might not get a happy ending.  And that's unbelievably hard to fathom.

But then midway through tonight's two-hour finale, they played a segment from the very first season. It reminded me that endings aren't always happy, but there's always hope.

The clip showed the original cast members, including Monteith, singing the Journey hit "Don't Stop Believin.'"  The tears just rolled down my cheeks as I looked at Grace, who was smiling back up at me, and reminded me that I will never stop believing in her, no matter what.

Glee has been something I have really enjoyed watching together with my family, and although I'm sad to see the final curtain call, I know we can rewatch old episodes on Netflix and enjoy the music too.  Thanks to the cast and crew for sharing their talents with us these past few years, and reminding us why we should never stop believing.