Parting is such sweet sorrow… perhaps for Romeo and Juliet, for us, I’m not quite sure. Almost nothing is harder than saying good bye to people you care about, even if you are about to take the most exciting trip of your life, even if its something you are 100% sure you want to do. Maybe the first goodbye is the worst, but emotionally, I feel like I’m at the edge of a waterfall about to go over. I am overwhelmed by the idea of saying goodbye to everyone we know – to our colleagues, our friends and our family – literally everyone we know. Everyone is an overwhelming word. Of course we’ll be back to the States and I sincerely hope others will come visit us, but its likely that over the natural course of life, some of these people we may never see again.
February 16th was technically our first goodbye. Long time friends from NYC, Chester and Catherine, came to visit in honor of Danny’s birthday and after we dropped them off at the train station it was hard to ignore the momentum this trip has taken on. No matter what, we are going. We have quit our jobs, we have sold our apartment….We have begun to say goodbye. We are closing in on that waterfall.
Admittedly I may be reading too much into this and acting all “emotional”. I mean its not like we’re moving to Siberia or Antarctica. Hopefully most everyone we will see again, but there is such an element of unknown this time that I’ve never felt before. Going away to college was difficult, but I knew what was in store for me there. Going away to Italy was difficult, but I knew when I would be home. Going away this time, well its just completely unknown. No return date, no expectations of the journey to come. I begin to think like this, and well I get teary and next thing I know I’m on the verge of a major tear fest.
Our second goodbye came this weekend, and perhaps because it was family it was more difficult than the first. After dropping our cousin Sharone off at the bus, we held each others hand and I said, “Its here, we are really doing this.” One squeeze of reassurance in my right hand and the tears faded away to a smile. “Its here! We are really doing this!”
I can see the edge of the waterfall now. We leave our home in a few days and while I admit to being terrified, I am equally excited and happy that we are following our dream. Friday we jump.
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