You say goodbye, I say hello

The greatest thing about the foreign service lifestyle is getting to meet so many people you otherwise wouldn’t. You make friends with those you would otherwise never have met. Sometimes you meet people at just the right time, and you know you’ll always be friends. You have just the right amount of things in common. Just the right mix. The support to make a difficult time pass easier, and good times more enjoyable.

The most awful thing about our lifestyle, is that for every one of these Hellos, for every one of these new friends we welcome into our hearts, there is a corresponding  Goodbye, looming in the distance. I don’t know how, but we get through it. The price we pay for every friend we make is to have another little piece of our heart taken away and beating at a distance. We tell ourselves it is okay, because one day we’ll visit and find that tiny piece of ourselves in tact, ready to be close again. BUT, as much as we can logically prepare ourselves, saying goodbye still hurts.

This week I said goodbye to my friend, who have now returned to England. He had become like my own little brother and I already miss him terribly. I smile at the Hello that brought him into my life, and gave me a taste of true friendship again. I want to go to England. Don’t want to say goodbye, I just want to say hello.

It's Beatles that sounds in my mind with their:

Hello, hello
I don't know why you say goodbye
I say hello!

My pieces around the world keep adding up to a lot of heart already, and it is growing all the time.