Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Saying Goodbye

   How do you say goodbye to the people who have changed your life? No, not just changed your life but have helped to mold you into the person you are today.  People who have helped you to see the world in a different light. The people who have seen you at your worst and are there to pick you up. Today I had to say goodbye to one of those people. After saying goodbye to this person I realized there have been a lot of goodbyes in my life in the past eight months. In the last eight months I have had to say goodbye to three of these people specifically. Three guys who were not just some of my best friends but brothers to me.  They were and still are my family. Maybe not by blood but in every other way possible.
   But is saying goodbye really goodbye? What does goodbye really mean? Is it just a see you later or see you another day? I like to think of it that way. I like to think that when I have to say goodbye to someone like I did today that no matter what happens in our lives, no matter how far we live from each other, we will always just be saying see you later.
   So back to the original question. How do you say goodbye to those who have have changed your life? Is there a proper way? Maybe there is and maybe there isn't, I don't know, but what I do know is that there are many different ways people say goodbye.
           Some laugh and make jokes.
           Some cry and become depressed.
           Some think about all the good times they had.
           Some refuse to say goodbye altogether.
   Each person has their own way of expressing themselves and many do not agree on how it should be done but the one thing that I think we can agree on is that when goodbye has to be said (no matter how we say it) the people in our lives that we are saying it to will be truly missed. At least, that is, until we see them later.