Five Minute Friday: Good-bye

Want to play Five Minute Friday? It’s easy peasy!

1. Write for 5 minutes flat on the prompt- no editing, no over thinking, no backtracking

2. Link back here and invite others to join in.

3. Meet & encourage someone who linked up before you.

GO

Over the years, I've become somewhat of an expert at saying good-bye. The more often you do it, the easier it gets. One of the reasons it got easier, however, was because I realised the French got it right with their 'au revoir' - literally, till we see each other again. Having lived in 9 very different countries and 20 different homes over my lifetime, I've said my fair share of good-byes. Some were heart-breakingly hard, others not quite so hard. One of the good-byes on the harder end of the scale, was to a friend from New Zealand when we were living in Singapore. She went back to her country of birth, I was moving to Europe. In the intervening 22 years or so, we have seen each other surprisingly often and we're in touch almost daily now, with short messages on Facebook or longer emails. When my dad died, she couldn't sleep and phoned me at 2 am (her time) to talk about him. I know I will see her again, whether it's next year or in a decade or two. This is the way it is with so many of my childhood friends - somewhere in the world, we meet again.

The more permanent good-byes - my dad, my uncle, my grandparents - they're of the heart-breaking variety but I also know we'll see each other again. One day, in heaven, it will be a case of 'au revoir'.

Even though I've done it countless times, I still hate saying good-bye, even if it is 'au revoir'. I'd rather keep everyone right here. Then again, having a wide variety of friends to stay with all over the world means many of our holidays double up as chances to 'revoir' and those moments are so precious, they're almost worth the wrench of saying good-bye in the first place.

STOP