O.K. Sitting here thinking about this "end-of-the world" stuff, I am ashamed to admit that I haven't been paying any attention to why and when and how the world is supposed to end in a few hours! I've been too busy with "planning" and "implementing" the party to worry about its "ending!"

I do know that it is Yalda, the longest night of the year, and this gives me joy, warmth, and hope, in contrast to what the "end-of-the-world" notion would offer. I can't wait for this night to give birth to spring, the way I have come to process the seasons and time throughout my life.

Just to be on the safe side, however, I did tell my kids tonight that if it's all true and that this is it, it was a true pleasure knowing them and introducing them to everyone else at the party!

It may all be futile, but indulge me to say that I have enjoyed my life to the fullest, cried the saltiest and wettest tears in he world, and laughed the loudest and deepest laughs I have ever known. I have hugged the tightest embraces and kissed the deepest kisses and worked the hardest I could, clapped and beshkan-ed the most vigorously and danced like nobody's business, and this is all I ever knew about life and how to live it! I am certain that I have enjoyed my life to its fullest and that I have squeezed its every corner for its very best essence.

O.K. Will it be time to go in a few hours? No problem! Khosh gozasht. Hey, it was one hell of a good party!