May All Your Days Be New Beginnings

I guess it was on the trip Wynn made to New York with his brother and
sister-in-law during the summer of 2001. I had moved to Manhattan
some months before, and for whatever reason (I was traveling or just
returning from a trip or something), I didn't connect with Wynn while
he was in the City. When I got back to my office, there was a
package waiting for me, addressed to "Ryan Wyatt, Science
Visualizer," from "T., Heaven."

My pet ferret, Terpsichore, had died earlier in the year at the ripe
old age of eight. Wynn and Terp always got along well, and much
speculation surrounded the ferret's thoughts, which Wynn and I
imagined as an incessant interior monologue. So I immediately
understood when I opened the package to find a journal (the Alfred
Souza quote, "happiness is a journey, not a destination," on the
cover) inscribed, "To Ryan, from Terpsichore." Each page is labeled
"Day 1," because, as explained early on, "Every day here is a new
beginning." Various entries describe finding socks, meeting Miles
Davis, not worrying about fleas, and finally having the chance to
taste coffee.

The last entry of any appreciable length reads:

"If I wrote of each new day forever, these words would only begin
each day to express the infinite things we've already shared fully.
So, I will pause to share these few words with you today, that they
might bring you joy today, and each new day. May all your days be
new beginnings.

"Thank you for my life.

"Love, Terpsichore"

As far as words to remember Wynn by, I guess those work for me. From
the mouths of weasels...

Ryan Wyatt
New York, New York