Saying Goodbye

I had a random thought one night last week whilst lying in bed.

I was going to simply post a small status on FB, but what I thought would be no more than three sentences max. Turned out to be a bit more. So, here I am, chattin' with y'all via this ol' thing.

(It's also been in draft form for about a week, and I keep forgetting to finish/post the darned thing...)

A Contradiction Posed:
Everyone says that they hate goodbyes. Saying goodbye, is associated with terrible feelings. I don't think I've ever heard anyone say they enjoyed goodbyes. I can't blame y'all though. I'm not necessarily fond of them myself. Saying goodbye isn't the most pleasant feeling in the world. It doesn't quite roll off the tongue.

But here's where my mind pauses for thought. When someone close to us passes away - say a family member or a friend, its tragedy lies not in the death itself (necessarily), but in the idea of not having been able to say goodbye. For the most part, death comes when we least expect it. And when that happens, we suddenly regret our joking words of, "Later Gator!"

We don't like goodbyes, yet we always end up regretting not being able to say so before one leaves our lives. Why do we do this to ourselves? Cause such unnecessary guilt?

We have so many chances to say goodbye. But we never take them. We're greedy. We take these chances for granted. We don't realize that this one goodbye could be our last. We don't think that anything can happen in between, "See you tomorrow," and... well, tomorrow. We pass on the opportunity we're given, and expect that another will come our way when we need it, or when we think it should.

And that's when that rug is pulled from underneath us.

Embrace It:
For the longest time, I made it a point to never say goodbye and instead, always say, "See you later." Then, I think it was my freshman year of high school, or right before, my great aunt passed away. The last time I had seen her, she was telling me that she had to undergo some minor surgery, and I was leaving for vacation with my family soon. Upon leaving her, I said something along the lines of, "Good luck, and see you later!"

Then she was gone. I had made tentative plans with her to see her in the near future. I can't remember what we were planning, but I was looking forward to it. Then those plans became null and void. I handle death pretty well, it's a necessary part of life. It's going to happen to everyone at some point. It's going to happen to me one day. I was sad she was gone, yes, but not in the traditional sense. I was more upset, that I hadn't actually said, "Goodbye."

A Lesson:
From that point on, I decided to make a point of saying goodbye to anyone and everyone whenever leaving their presence. Don't take life for granted, and especially don't think that life will always play out in your favor.

Say goodbye, but go ahead and look forward to see that person again.

It'll make the reunion that much more sweet and the parting that much more bearable.

(Sorry for a depressing post. I tried to make it somewhat uplifting. I hope it worked..?)

Thanks for reading,
<3 Tawny