Being okay with goodbyes.
Does it ever become easier?
Her chin was latched to his shoulder — neck to neck.
Her brow furrowed, eyes squinted, and bottom lip quivered.
When would she see him again?
Her arms wrapped around his back, one hand tightly clutching her other forearm.
Their bodies were fused together.
The full essence of how much you care about a person, appreciate them, how much they mean to you — it all comes out when it becomes real that you won’t have them anymore.
“Goodbye” is the acceptance of parting.
“I miss you” is the acknowledgement of absence.
Sometimes, you experience both at the same time, all in that last hug — the hug that becomes a collection of every hug you shared in the past, along with all the hugs you won’t have moving forward.
It’s interlocked with the hopeful possibility of meeting again. It’s an agreement that the connection you felt with this person was mutual.
I looked to my right — another goodbye hug before airport security. I felt the goodbyes I said to every person I parted with in this one.
Want to see a great hug? Go to the airport.
Traveling around the world for the past year of my life, I had to say goodbye to so many people. All of them were hard and I always dreaded it.
But as I continue to cross paths with people and part with people again and again, I’m starting to appreciate them a little more.
Maybe goodbyes aren’t so bad.
Without the condition of parting, I may never have experienced this kind of a hug.
And a hug like this is worth experiencing.
