There is no act more terrifying and affecting to me than saying goodbye. Goodbyes with me are always accompanied by a wave of emotions. The memories of all of the good times that I have shared with the person, the realization that the special things that we did together will be no more, a sense of loss, and an understanding that I will not see this person again, at least not in the same way. Maybe I am affected so deeply by goodbyes because I do not have all that many friends and losing one typically opens up new areas of loneliness in my life. I also tend to have many regrets when saying goodbye as I know that I wanted to get closer and share more of myself, my time and energy, but other things in life got in the way. Things like work, and laziness, and fear, and the belief that time would never run out on our relationship. There would always be a tomorrow. In the last couple of years I have had to say way too many goodbyes. Each lost friendship weighs on me. I think of my friends often and miss them. Friends like Mindy, Paul, Daniel, Brian, Suzanne, Robby, and Elke.
I thought I would end today's post with a few nuggets of truth.
- The loss of a friend is like that of a limb; time may heal the anguish of the wound, but the loss cannot be repaired.
- While we are mourning the loss of our friend, others are rejoicing to meet them behind the veil.
- Sometimes we lose friends for whose loss our regret is greater than our grief, and others for whom our grief is greater than our regret.
