Why goodbyes are a good thing

I love goodbyes. Here’s my case for why. Typically you hear people say “I hate goodbyes” which isn’t to say they hate saying goodbye at end of hanging out, but rather the goodbyes that are followed by not seeing the other person for a long time. And that is the kind of goodbyes I’m talking about, the ones that leave you desperately leaning on; Facebook, Twitter, Skype and email just to communicate simple things with good friends.

I wanted to write about this in light of my own life. My wife, daughters and I, over the past year and a half in China have gotten close with a friend of ours here, Lisa. Tomorrow she leaves for America and will be out of our day to day lives. It sucks. It hurts. But you know what, I love it.

Saying goodbye to someone you’re close with is never easy. But would it be better if you never cared enough for someone else to care about saying goodbye? It sucks and hurts because that person meant something to you, because they are part of your life and in turn, part of you. Again, if you never got close to other people, then goodbyes would never be hard, but is that a good alternative? Would you want it any other way?

You could sum it up like this “let there be pain, because it means there was life”.

Of course, the argument could be made that if no one ever left you, you wouldn’t have to say goodbye. Really though, that isn’t even close to being reality, because our lives are always in transition. As each of us pursue our passions, loves, and goals, we, inevitably end up on a different road then we have been traveling on. And isn’t that something we should champion in those around us, pursuit of what’s next?

This my friends, is why I love goodbyes.

What do you think?

Enjoy this day,
Matt

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