meeting again after moments or lifetimes

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“Don’t be dismayed at good-byes. A farewell is necessary before you can meet again. And meeting again, after moments or lifetimes, is certain for those who are friends.”

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Richard Bach

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So. This is about ‘good byes’ versus ‘until we meet agains.’ No reason I am writing this one other than the fact I don’t write enough about friends or meaningful relationships or people you care about and stuff like that.

I should write more because stuff like that is important to me.

Now. I have always been a restless nomad <lived in 11 different states> and because I have moved so often I have people I care about spread all over the place so that, inevitably, I find myself at an airport saying goodbye or beside my car shaking hands or hugging a goodbye.

I’ll admit, I don’t know about anyone else, but it never seems to get any easier.

I know. I know.

People always say ‘be grateful for all the friends you have everywhere.’ And I am. Absolutely I am.

But. That doesn’t make saying good bye any easier.

Sure, of course, on occasion you try the infamous “until we meet again” with the hope that if you treat it that way you ate mentally not saying goodbye but just suggesting it is a momentary parting.

Well. Not so easy my friends. Life is tricky that way.

It pushes and pulls and tugs at you every which way.

And the ‘until we meet agains’ slips into the ‘good bye category’ before you know it.

Sure. In today’s world of emails and texts it is easier than ever to connect and stay in touch. But face to face? Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm … no text can ever match that.

Anyway. I am blessed in that I have had more hellos than goodbyes in my life.

Doesn’t make any of the goodbyes easier (and the real goodbyes are never going to be easy that’s for sure).

I do know one thing.

I have ditched the whole “until we meet again” philosophy.

I try and treat each good bye as if it is really truly a goodbye. Treat it like the last time you ever get to say something to that person. I believe if that person has made you happy even in a small way, they deserve to know it.

And you just may not meet again to tell them so.

Not because of anything dire, but rather simply because of life.

Maybe for that same reason is the reason why goodbyes are so tough. But. I will say my attitude of ‘no more until we meet again’ I imagine in the end I will be grateful I left nothing unsaid behind.

Remember.

Its not the goodbye that is so difficult, it is all the things you want to say that makes it difficult. So make it easy — say what you want to say.

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“Let us be grateful to people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.”

Marcel Proust

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