On Saying Goodbyes

I hate goodbyes. I don’t know anyone who doesn’t. It’s awkward and difficult to let go of something you love. But it is human. Everyday people say hello, but they are also forced to say goodbye. They loosen their grasp on the one thing they wanted to hold onto forever and then they slowly release it for good. Sometimes getting it back later, other times not so lucky. Through tears and pain, they utter farewells, all the while wishing there was some way around it. 

Standing at one’s doorstep staring at the dust that is left behind when a car rolls out of sight is never where one wants to be. Yet day after day we find ourselves in that exact spot. Standing and staring, because there is nothing else we could possibly do. Because there is a certain humanness to sacrifice, to leaving and to staying, to giving up. 

But letting go, and saying goodbye, isn’t always a bad thing. Goodbyes mean progress. They bring growth and new challenges. They lead people down roads they may not travel otherwise. Roads to better places, to bigger opportunities, and to more sad goodbyes. 

But goodbyes also bring us to more hellos.