Goodbyes: Round 4

Traveling provides the opportunity to meet and get to know tons of fascinating people.  Sometimes you meet someone briefly and you end up sharing a drink, a bus ride, or some laughs in a rowboat.  Sometimes you end up placed with someone in a more permanent setting, like at a job, and you get the chance to make a great friend.  Unfortunately, the nature of traveling requires that, for each new person you meet, you have to say just as many goodbyes.

I’m getting ready to say another set of goodbyes.  The three months of homeschooling that I came to help with are ending this week.  Before I moved back down here in February, I’d decided not to make any new friends.  I knew that the time would fly by, and I didn’t particularly want to make and then leave yet another group of friends.  It's wearing. As it turned out, though, there were too many wonderful people for me to resist the temptation to get to know them.  Most people who know me well can attest that I’ve never been good at denying the opportunity to stay up late and chat with people I enjoy. J

Happily, it looks like I will be back at Abundant Life teaching Nursery again this upcoming school year, and several friends (old and new) will be back in Gracias with me.  I’m super excited to spend another year working with these wonderful people of this beautiful culture, and I'm so happy to go into it with the love and support of old friends, as well as anticipation for the new relationships I will build.  While my last few days with these new friends will be bittersweet, and I will probably cry like a baby at least once or twice, I am looking forward to the year ahead.

And if you're reading this and I will not get to be with you in Gracias next year, you'd better write an all-nighter with me into your summer schedule.