One week goodbyes


Peace Corps / Thursday, September 9th, 2010

I’ve been spending the past week saying goodbye. Goodbye Mary. Goodbye Jane. Will we ever meet again? Yes, we will.

I think that’s why it hasn’t really bothered me too much saying goodbye to people. I know I’ll be back and I know when that will be. When people find out how long I’ll be gone for, I hear the same refrain of, “Twenty-seven months? That’s a long time.” It is and it isn’t. I like to look at it this way, by the time I get back those twenty-seven months will be about a twelfth of my life. Every day I’m home after that will make it a smaller portion of my life.

Plus, with the state of technology I don’t think I’ll actually ever be away. Physically yes. But I guarantee you that you’ll be able to get your fix of Danny online almost any time. The Peace Corps tries to mentally prepare us for not having access to the internet, but I think I one upped them. They won’t have to worry about my worries. I’ll have the internet on my Kindle. Emails will be easiest for me, but I’ll still be able to post blogs and even Facebook. I’ll just do it slower.

There will be a Jane or a Mary that I’ve been preparing for never seeing again. But that’s life. People get old and they die. Accidents happen. People move with no intention of coming home. I get that. I’m hoping I don’t have to deal with it, but I get it.

I’ve caught myself intentionally not thinking about leaving people behind . It makes me sad knowing that in a week, I won’t be seeing them for quite some time. It’s an inevitable fact. About a week ago, my mom expressed her surprise that she hasn’t started crying yet. The tears finally came this past Saturday at my going away party. Eventually, they’ll come for me.

And now I’m off to do my last bit of scheduled goodbyes. Just know goodbye is not forever.

Leave a Reply