I would have to say that I'm philosophically opposed to the word 'good' being in "good-bye". I've never been fond of the word. It's like the word 'fun' appearing in "funeral". There are a number of people, significant to my landscape, who are leaving our area this summer.
When you live far away from your family, you say good bye a lot. When you say good bye to them, you know that you will not see them again for a long time. It adds a certain emotional weight to the word. I suppose I prefer "farewell" or "see you around". Leaving is a very real part of life, it's the other end of "hello" and "welcome". Living without family nearby also cause you to invest differently in the relationships you have with people near you . I am so fortunate to have friends who are like sisters(okay...and brothers), and friends who love me like a daughter.
This road that we travel, we travel together. Some people walk with us for a long time, and others for a shorter amount of time. The time comes when we branch off on different side routes, still on the same map, still parallel, but no longer together. The very fact that it pains me to say goodbye, leads me to count the blessing of the significant roles these people have played in my life, and the life of my family. Special memories that we will hold onto, knowing that we invested in each other. It wasn't just a walk in the park. We struggled through things together and supported each other when we needed a helping hand. We encouraged each other. Sometimes we even carried each other.
So, you have a good cry and then you get on with your day. You can't dwell here. (Well, you could, but it's not pretty...or even good for you.) If you dwell here you wouldn't be walking anymore, and you have to keep on with life.
You remind yourself to celebrate for each other: your successes, breakthroughs, answers to prayer, and new opportunities. You remind yourself that there will always be email and facebook, and you can still celebrate things with each other. But to me, there's something to it, to be able to look in someone's eyes, to be able to say one thing with my mouth because someone else is listening in , but knowing they see the whole story in my eyes, or I in theirs. The physical leaving...pains me today. I'm just going to dwell on it a bit...with wet eyes, just today. And someone else I walk with will pause and pass me a kleenex.
2 comments:
Thank you BLOGGER for the nice new templates!!
I totally know the feeling and I sympathise with you. Being in the military is not an easy job for a wife, and it can be very trying at times, especially when you hear those words, "my husband is getting his orders in the next few weeks and we'll be moving"...but like you said, you have to make the best of it, and not dwell on the time you have left. It always helps me to know that God's got my life completely in control, and that their time in my life has to be a little less, so that I have room to form new friendships with people God is putting in my life....and so life must go on. :)
Lots of Love to you, Dianna
(i cant remember my password so I am anonymously signing in till I remember. :) )
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