Farewells and Funerals....both are goodbyes............
Farewells and Funerals....I have encountered both in the last 24 hours. Saying goodbyes and "until we meet agains". These things do a number on ones fake eyelashes.
I started the day off with new eye lashes put on and the admonition to avoid getting them wet at all cost for 24 hours. Easy peesy. Or so I thought. Such is life right? You think you will follow through and then.....................
So in our religion we allow boys and girls the opportunity to serve a full time missions. This includes the exclusion of technology, cable, games, t.v., WII, etc. They go to serve and teach not to visit sites or tour the countries they are called too. Well, our daughter's "friend" (notice the quotes) left today to serve the Berlin, Germany mission. Last night was the very last time we will get to see him for two full years. Water works. Okay, flooding of waterworks. I told our Elder Conley that I was billing his mother for my lashes as I was sure they were falling out by the handful. We got to share some of our thoughts with him and give him the "last goodbyes." Tears welled in the rims of our eyes and hugs so tight were distributed amongst those who came to show love.
The last hug goodbye!
Packing the day before!
This young man is leaving behind a father he loves and immolates who is recovering from Leukemia and a ninety year old Grandad that he loves. He packed up all his earthly possessions into boxes to be put in the garage to gather dust. He gave up competing with his beloved horse, Abbi. He said goodbye to "his" girl.
The Goodbye was bittersweet. We as a family shared a quiet evening speaking about the influence he has had on our family. I think most of my lashes tried to stay intact.
This morning, not even recovered from our Auf Wiedersehen , we went to the funeral, in support our friend ,whose mother had passed. Part of the program was her Uncle, the husband's brother. He must have been 75 years old or so. He sang a Canadian love song that he had sung at their wedding. He stood there belting out this beautiful ballad, at the top of his lungs, that sounded straight out of the 50's replete with piano. The thought that he sang that to them at the beginning of their lives together nearly 50 years ago or so and now here at the final goodbye drew tears at the sweetness of it all. The most Lash-Nazi couldn't withstand the salty tears from coursing down. And then the sight of all the Grand kids standing close together singing a farewell song to their beloved Grandmother. The older ones barely able to contain themselves, the younger ones enjoying the lime light and singing with gusto. But it was the last speaker, the oldest daughter....boy she got me. She spoke honestly about her vision of who her mother was. It wasn't always complimentary but it was real. She spoke about how there had been distance between her and her mom. She said it didn't really matter why. She just wished that she could have had spent more time with her mom before the final goodbye. That there were things, things she wished she had shared. Things that should have been said. But she was okay because she knew, knew, that her mom was able to know all the things she has accomplished and she knew that her mom can now be proud of her. This goodbye was a mixed blessing.
In this Journey of life there are all kinds of goodbyes. Goodbyes to childhood, to jobs, to homes, to loved ones, to pets we have loved, to Grandparents, to relationships, to maturity, to innocence, to issues, to dreams, and goodbyes to hope. But in all things there is opposition. So the goodbyes that have been said in the last few hours have been filled with pain but peppered with comfort. They have had loss but also hope. Hope of seeing them again, in this life or the next.
The Dictionary says that the exclamation of the word goodbye means "good wishing when parting". The noun of Goodbye is the "the final goodbye." I have used it in both ways. Neither one has been easy. But both have been a necessity of life. So as I bid adieu, meaning well wishing at the end of a conversation, I wish for you that whatever farewells you are forced to face, know opposition in all things. And the opposite of goodbye is hello. Go and do.
I started the day off with new eye lashes put on and the admonition to avoid getting them wet at all cost for 24 hours. Easy peesy. Or so I thought. Such is life right? You think you will follow through and then.....................
So in our religion we allow boys and girls the opportunity to serve a full time missions. This includes the exclusion of technology, cable, games, t.v., WII, etc. They go to serve and teach not to visit sites or tour the countries they are called too. Well, our daughter's "friend" (notice the quotes) left today to serve the Berlin, Germany mission. Last night was the very last time we will get to see him for two full years. Water works. Okay, flooding of waterworks. I told our Elder Conley that I was billing his mother for my lashes as I was sure they were falling out by the handful. We got to share some of our thoughts with him and give him the "last goodbyes." Tears welled in the rims of our eyes and hugs so tight were distributed amongst those who came to show love.
The last hug goodbye!
Packing the day before!
This young man is leaving behind a father he loves and immolates who is recovering from Leukemia and a ninety year old Grandad that he loves. He packed up all his earthly possessions into boxes to be put in the garage to gather dust. He gave up competing with his beloved horse, Abbi. He said goodbye to "his" girl.
The Goodbye was bittersweet. We as a family shared a quiet evening speaking about the influence he has had on our family. I think most of my lashes tried to stay intact.
This morning, not even recovered from our Auf Wiedersehen , we went to the funeral, in support our friend ,whose mother had passed. Part of the program was her Uncle, the husband's brother. He must have been 75 years old or so. He sang a Canadian love song that he had sung at their wedding. He stood there belting out this beautiful ballad, at the top of his lungs, that sounded straight out of the 50's replete with piano. The thought that he sang that to them at the beginning of their lives together nearly 50 years ago or so and now here at the final goodbye drew tears at the sweetness of it all. The most Lash-Nazi couldn't withstand the salty tears from coursing down. And then the sight of all the Grand kids standing close together singing a farewell song to their beloved Grandmother. The older ones barely able to contain themselves, the younger ones enjoying the lime light and singing with gusto. But it was the last speaker, the oldest daughter....boy she got me. She spoke honestly about her vision of who her mother was. It wasn't always complimentary but it was real. She spoke about how there had been distance between her and her mom. She said it didn't really matter why. She just wished that she could have had spent more time with her mom before the final goodbye. That there were things, things she wished she had shared. Things that should have been said. But she was okay because she knew, knew, that her mom was able to know all the things she has accomplished and she knew that her mom can now be proud of her. This goodbye was a mixed blessing.
In this Journey of life there are all kinds of goodbyes. Goodbyes to childhood, to jobs, to homes, to loved ones, to pets we have loved, to Grandparents, to relationships, to maturity, to innocence, to issues, to dreams, and goodbyes to hope. But in all things there is opposition. So the goodbyes that have been said in the last few hours have been filled with pain but peppered with comfort. They have had loss but also hope. Hope of seeing them again, in this life or the next.
The Dictionary says that the exclamation of the word goodbye means "good wishing when parting". The noun of Goodbye is the "the final goodbye." I have used it in both ways. Neither one has been easy. But both have been a necessity of life. So as I bid adieu, meaning well wishing at the end of a conversation, I wish for you that whatever farewells you are forced to face, know opposition in all things. And the opposite of goodbye is hello. Go and do.
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