What a trip!

The journey is over.

The LOST series finale aired on May 22, 2010, bringing fans to a widely contested close. After six faithful years of diligently following the hour-long drama, LOST fans are now searching to fill that hole (or at least the weekly time slot).

The road was long and winding, not for the faint of heart. Each week LOST dared fans to keep up with the ever-changing plots, extensive character developments, exciting twists and turns and endless amounts of questions, many of which will remain unanswered and continue to torment hardcore Losties for years to come. Over the course of six seasons intertwining flashbacks, flash forwards, flash sideways, and a questionable "reality" gradually merged in a convoluted mess, all tangled up like a tightly wound ball of rubber bands. As the last season approached, lofty promises were made igniting fan's hopes for a resolution, and, most importantly, explanations to the scores of questions that had built up over the years. With the final season underway it became apparent that each new week would leave us, yet again, with those all too familiar feelings of dissatisfaction and disillusionment. The love/hate relationship we fostered over the years would continue to the bitter end, and, like it or not, LOST was not just going to simply hand us a nicely packaged set of answers. There were too many intricacies, too many unexplained situations, too many intermingled story lines to sort through. LOST fans faced a fork in the road: continue on with the disillusioned idea that a sensible conclusion would manage to tie up all the lose ends and deliver a resolution, or accept the fact that there were no answers; an easy resolution simply did not exist. That nagging sense of confusion would remain, and in the end we would find our closure by biding farewell to the beloved characters instead of hopelessly trying to account for every detail of the mysterious island.

My life is rooted in reality and I do understand that LOST was only a make believe story, lacking any real value in the big scheme of things. But LOST was much more than just a television show. It was a weekly event that promoted deep thought, discussion and debate. It allowed friends to bond. It provided endless talk at the water cooler. It created a subculture of Losties, obsessed with the smoke monster and the time-traveling island. With the risk of sounding like one of those crazy obsessed fans, I admit that I cried when it was all over. Not only did it feel like I was saying goodbye to dear friends (the characters), but I would miss the weekly time with our good friends, Josh & Stacy, not to mention all of Josh's smoothies.

Josh & Stacy Huggins, Kristin & Jeremy Berquist.....so sad it's over.