the hardest part is always "Goodbye"

I drive away.  

There is nothing easy about it.  Even on the best days with them it is bittersweet.

They seem so good.  They're healthy.  They're strong and growing more each moment I'm away from them.

I look at them and see the best part of me.  The part that is still young, mostly innocent - alive and unafraid of what lies ahead.  They are beautiful.  Fearfully and wonderfully made.

But I know that they have their own struggles even at 12 and 14.  They aren't without times that they question things in life.  As they've gotten older I am so proud of them for talking to me about the hard stuff.  It's been a more recent development and I am so thankful that they aren't scared to ask.  To seek answers.

So I drive away.

I cry.  No matter what, I hate leaving them.

It may be the hardest word in our vocabulary.  

I'll see them in a few weeks.  I'll get to hug them and just know that they're doin' ok.  Tell them I love them (over and over again).  Tell them how proud I am of who they are.  Not what they'll become, but who they are right now.  That they never have to doubt that.  That they resonate within me even when I'm gone.

I drive.


In our lives there are also people that we meet that come in and help us to understand more about ourselves and this life.  Special people that we might have never met if it weren't for circumstance and fate.  We have them in our lives for but a moment and they teach us.  They help mold us.  They show us something wonderful.

But these too we often have to say goodbye to.  To let go.

It really is the hardest part.

"Goodbye"


...and you journey on.