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The art of saying goodbye

Goodbyes are interesting to me. I have had to say goodbye many times; to my dearest friends, to my family, to my dear dogs... I reckon we've all said goodbye very many times but I can't recall any significant one being an easy one.

I spent 12 years around some of my friends back home before I left. I had to say goodbye to them when I left for Canada. I also had to say goodbye to my grandmother, my dog, my house... my world. I hate goodbyes. There is never a good time to say goodbye. I have yet to come across the right words that can say goodbye for you.

My way of coping with this wretched ritual of life is to bugger off as quietly as I said hello. I came into this world silently and god-willing, I shall leave in silence and peace. Why the obsession to goodbyes at this ungodly of hours? Well, my world is about to change soon. The folks who have been part of my work world are for the most part, going their own way. Not by choice mind you, but by necessity and circumstance. I have been reading many a goodbye message of late and I admire their words.

It is not easy to say goodbye to the ones who have been part of your daily life... my office isn't just an office, it is a source of entertainment, a source of good cheer, a source of tears and smiles. Hell, when I'm on vacation, I check in on them. I cannot fathom a world without these folks, and yet that day fast approaches like a train at full steam. Very soon, their voices will be but a distant memory and slowly my thoughts of them will be diminished, my focus altered. Until one fine day I will sit and try and figure out who the fellow with the long beard was or who the lass with the most cheerful sounding laughter I ever heard was. I say now that I shall never forget... and yet life, so cruelly sometimes, allows you to forget. But, as the licence plate says, je me souviens. For now at least.

Hawkeye once got really unhappy with BJ when he left without saying goodbye... and as fate would have it, BJ had to come back was able to say goodbye with stones. So long, farewell, auf Weidersehen. And may the fires keep you warm, the music lively, the food comforting and life full of joy.

When I was a young lad, and had to say goodbye, I used to say I am leaving in my own language... I was always corrected. The correct way of saying it is, may I come back? That has stuck with me. I know I'll see you all again. There are no goodbyes in my world, only see you laters.

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