Good-bye is never easy.
I usually try not to think about Good-bye until the last minute. I avoid it, push it aside, try not to think about the ride to the airport. I shut my ears to the zip of the suitcase, the clomping of it’s wheels down the stairs. I try not to think about lasts: last dinners, last coffees, last hugs.
Especially when there might be Never-Again attached to the Good-bye.
I seriously don’t always want to look on the bright side because sometimes the bright-side is lost in the shadow of the Never-Again.
But if I have learned anything in my life I know that Good-byes pave the path of whatever is next. And usually that involves a Hello.
{big sigh}
Third grade can’t happen without saying Good-bye to 2nd grade. Summer can’t happen without saying Good-bye to the school year. And life can’t move forward for my friends if they continue to inhabit the futon in my loft, never zip up their suitcases and never step on a plane for the next city.
Good-byes are a necessity.
A necessity that is difficult for me to stomach.
So I’m going to say Hello to summer beach days, even though that means leaving May where it is. I’ll say Hello to pool days, camp days and pajama days snuggling under the quilt in the air conditioning. And I’m going to say Hello to the possibility that Never-Again might just in fact be Someday-in-the-Future.
Do you have any Good-Byes and Hellos to make?
Just last week I had to say good-bye to a couple and their baby who we’ve served with here in Romania for the last 3 years. It was soo hard. It makes me the only American woman on our staff. Which maybe doesn’t sound like such a big deal, but that may also make me the only American woman in this city of 300,000.
Right now, the loss is still strong. I’m not ready to say hello to anything yet.
wow april. what a difficult (and special) thing. I will pray for you this morning.
I have had to say goodbye to many things. I lost my sweet Mother to breast cancer 2 years ago. I didn’t want to have to say goodbye… God had other plans.
I have said goodbye to friends, family, bad habits and many other things. BUT…
I have said hello to more peace in my life, to better friends who uplift me and my relationship with God.
On a lighter note, I am soooo very ready to say hello to summer! Long days with my kiddos, sleeping in, easier schedules, long summer nights watching the kids run in the yard and catch lightening bugs, sitting on the porch in the evenings with the neighbors, barbques with friends and playing on the beach for endless hours whenever we want.
Life wouldn’t be life without hellos and goodbyes. It’s what and who we are saying hello and goodbye to that changes our lives forever.
~Sarah~
i am so so sorry about your mother, sarah. i hope that this summer brings you a lot of hellos.
God bless you, Sarah, in all your goodbyes and hellos! He loves you!
Thank you for helping us see the possibilities He brings into each goodbye and hello.
We had an older, sweet neighbor move away, to say goodbye to . . .and we’ll miss her! Now, we have new neighbors to say hello to and embrace.
love, deb
i know i love it!! possibilities in the Hellos. =)
Well put, Sarah. As a Pastor’s wife, I find myself struggling with some goodbyes and hellos in recent months. We moved to a new city and church. The people are wonderful and the city is nice, but this change is tougher it seems than any other. Thank you for the perspective brought about in Good-byes and Hellos. It was just what I needed today.
God’s Blessings ~ Debra
that would be hard. i can only imagine…
Love how this written…and so true with many hellos and goodbyes and the seasons that we are blesses w diff people in our lives.
thanks Shannon. =)
awww…this post made me wanna cry! So well written and so beautifully expressed.
Last year was a year of many goodbyes for me…..the loss of financial stability, goodbye to a church home, the death of a grandpa I loved dearly, a miscarriage, the death of a grandma that I loved SO much, the loss of my family as I used to know it (parents separation for a year).
Although all those goodbye’s have not been reversed (parents are back together but our family is not the same) I have seen how God is bringing in some more “hello’s” in 2009.
A church to call home and plant ourselves in (RockHarbor!),
a life group to fellowship in, new friends in different corners of both mine and my husbands life…
That is a beautiful picture of you and Alece! I wanted SO much to come on Saturday to meet both of you but I had plans I couldn’t change with my family
It sounds like it was a beautiful evening
awww, we did miss you. i’m sure we all can meet someday (not Never Again) okay??
Yes, in fact! Saying good-bye to the wonderful family who welcomed us into their home a year ago, and hello to our own apartment this week! I’m happy and sad. And like you, trying not to think about the good-bye’s quite yet.
I’ll miss the family (including their parents who were often here and my kids called grandparents), living in close community, the 3 “not just friends, more like siblings” my 2 young children gained, the friendship, the craziness and and so much more. My 3 year old daughter told us, “we have to come visit a LOT or I’ll be reeeeallly sad!”
And yet I’m looking forward to our own space, our own room, not trekking 2 heavy kids up and down 2 flights of stairs numerous times everyday, and having a designated workspace. I’m really looking forward to more alone time with my husband, and jumping into a new season of us getting organized and efficient to push us through this next season, after which we can hopefully finally climb out of the survival mode of 2 young kids, job stress and finances we’ve been in. It’s been too long.
Hello, and good-bye. It’ll take a me a few weeks or more to process all this.
Thanks for the great post, as always! Love ya!
oh wow!! i’m so glad you guys finally got your own place. yay!!
we need to catch up soon. =)
Beautifully said…here’s to…someday soon.
someday very soon…
While this goodbye may seem insignificant, we have to say goodbye to our baby goat Willow today. She was born about a month ago and now it’s time to send her to her new home. Even though you choose to give something away or sell it, it still hurts to give that something up. We’re all going to miss her a lot.
that’s not insignificant. nothing ever is. =(
i bet she’s super cute.
I prefer “see ya later” over “goodbye”. Even if essentially they mean the same thing, the former just seems to hurt a little less.
So glad you got to spend time with Alece! The picture of the two of you is just adorable!
thanks Chrissy. I like that too – see ya later. =)
On Thursday we are saying goodbye to our dear neighbors and friends who have been amazing. My 7 year old son has never had to say goodbye…and now having to say goodbye to his best friend! It is going to be a tough summer for sure! The boys have been inseperable for the past two years. They climb through the hole in the fence daily to get to each others backyards…playing ball in the driveway, racing each other on Mario Kart, playing on the same soccer team through the local YMCA, sleepovers and camping trips…the list goes on and on! Memories that will last a lifetime, for sure! We have become dear family friends, and will stay close, but the distance will definitely impact our days. Goodbye Moores, you will be sorely missed!
ohh, that must be difficult. i hope your summer gets filled with new and wonderful things. =)
you guys look like sisters
it was fun watching the tweets this week 
I need to say goodbye to procrastination… but right now, I’m procrastinating saying good bye and enjoying my friends’ blogs
thanks jenny. someone else said that too. how funny and what a compliment. =)
i am with you about procrastination. =)
One goodbye that I love love love is goodbye to my larger sized clothing and hello to my smaller sized clothing! lol
Not that I’ve lost weight recently but it’s just some positive thinking as I begin eating right and excercising again
way to go, Michelle!!
i HAVE to learn to say goodbye to uncessesary carbs, sweets, and too much caffeine intake.
i have to say hello to a healthier eating lifestyle.
I have had to say good bye to elementary school…Can’t believe my daughter will be starting middle school in the fall….
But love saying Hello to summer-
We had to say good bye to some plans we had in the works, but God knows best…and I do believe the plans he has for us will be far better than the ones we were making….and to those plans, I can’t wait to say, Hello =)
I really hope you guys will have another Someday-in-the-Future, but I also know that your friendship is cemented in that distance-doesn’t-matter way. Makes my heart happy to seen you all happy together
Wow…
I know what you mean.
Alece is grabbing my heart fast.
Sunday might be just a little difficult…
I am so glad that I was able to hug on you again.
I recently said good-bye to a relationship that needed to end. While it was hard it was the best thing for both of us. While I said goodbye to him and his four wonderfully great kids I didn’t have to say goodbye to the rest of his family. We’ve made it work to where we can still be friends (we were friends before he and I started dating). I’m saying HELLO to new opportunties, endless possibilities and hopefully to finding that perfect-for-me not perfect-for-everyone-else guy.
my heart hurts from the missing…
i hated saying goodbye to you!
Lots of “Good-bye’s” for me lately… A manager I worked really well with and two of my really good friends/co-workers have left the company I’m working at, our worship pastor and his family (whom we consider family) are being called to another church (one of their sons is my son’s best friend), a friend of the family died which has left a hole in our hearts… There is a “Hello-again” in my life… My brother who lives in Toluca Lake is moving back here (San Mateo County) after living all over the place for over 20 years. He and his son and girlfriend are moving within a 5 minute drive from where we live and I am truly ecstatic about that! How many “Good-bye’s” will God squeeze in to our lives? I’m not sure. However, I know that God is with us and we are not alone and one day, one very wonderful day, He will say to us, Hello my beloved, welcome home!
I think…sometime very soon…I’ll be saying goodbye to all the plans I had been creating in my mind of where my life would be going in the next few years. Goodbye to my plans. Hello to His.
Last month I said goodbye to life as I’ve always known it and dreams I thought had died. I moved thousands of miles from home, family, and friends. I have however said hello to God’s plan for my life, even though on this path I can’t see the next step. I have more faith and trust in my God than ever before. I know my Savior is leading me.
I think I have had to say a lot more “Good-bye’s” than “hello’s”. Some have been really great, needed and life changing–good-bye to old, sinful habits, hello Jesus you are the center of my life. However, this has meant “good-bye” friends and family who don’t understand. Good-bye to loved ones that have passed on, some whom I don’t think knew the Lord. And good-bye to all of the wonderful friends we have come to love and adore as we have moved a lot and just recently moved again. One thing I have learned is that I never have to say good-bye to my Jesus–it’s hello all the time and that is comforting!
i need to steal our pics from you before i leave…