Goodbye. Some may argue that there is no such thing. How can parting ever be good? How can this void inside me ever be filled with anything other than pain and remorse? How can memories ever bring us the same level of happiness as the thing itself?
The secret is, in order for a bye to ever be good, our eyes, our focus, and all of our hope must be turned toward the future. The end of a chapter in life will only bring us sadness until we decide to start a new chapter. Saying farewell to a friend, as wrenching as it may be, does not mean the end of love. The ending of a relationship does not mean the end of intimacy. No, it means exactly the opposite.
Yes. There will be tears. There will be confusion. The things we lose are but flowers in fields of stone. Relationships change and grow with the season. Every summer meets its fall. And for a time we may feel alone. But every winter meets its spring.
The fragments of our lives that we lost, whatever they may be, can never be replaced. But each empty shelf will carry the memories of the fragment it used to hold. And new irreplaceable fragments will come. Each one housed on a new shelf; each one unique.
We will never forget the old. Nor are we supposed to. Yesterdays are to remember when todays grow difficult. We learn from our goodbyes and the people we said them to. Then we move on, wiser, stronger and kinder people to embrace all the new hellos that we know are inevitably on the horizon.
Goodbyes are not coffins in which we burry our happiness, they are the vessels that carry us with hopeful anticipation to the beautiful unknown.
Hopecloaked 