How many goodbyes does it take to start a new life?
How many hugs?
How many “I’ll miss you”s?
How many promises to write?
How many promises to visit?
How many kisses?
How many last looks?
How many “I love you”s?
For the last few days, it seems that all I’m doing is saying goodbye. Goodbye to my friends, my grandmothers, my co-workers, the nice lady at the post office, the members from the bank, my parent’s friends, even friends of friends I’ve just met.
I’ve been trying to hold it together, but the cracks are starting to show. I haven’t really slept in a couple of weeks, and nothing, it seems, will help. Drink a lot, pass out, wake up at 7:30am and lie in bed trying to slow my brain down as it once again thinks over the loop of what I should have done yesterday, what I need to do today, what I’m going to pack tomorrow, remind myself that it’s Dukoral part two day, and I need to find two hours to not eat so I can take it, try to convince the very nice man who called about my car that he really want to buy it, see another friend for the ‘last’ time tonight . . . thank God I can sleep on planes and that it is a long flight.
I guess it’s not really goodbye . . . more of a fare-thee-well, a see ya later, an au revoir, I’m not dying, after all, just going away for a while. One day I’ll be back, but my version of the one-way ticket is not one way around the world, it’s just one way to the world.
And the world will have it’s fair share of goodbyes as well. Travelling is a funny beast. It brings out the best and worst in people, and it shows you, more than anything else, who you really are. Along the way, you meet and make some amazing friends – but you can’t collect them all like stickers, to put in an album for always. You have to say goodbye to them as well, with promises to keep in touch, and move on to meet the next person, the next group of people who will again help mold and shape you and your view of the world.
It takes a lot of hello’s to start a new life too.
The Travelling Twin 
Sister, you’re going to have an amazing time!! I’ll miss you so much but I know that through the wonders of technology we’ll be able to share a lot of the experiences we each have over the next little (or long) while. And remember you’ve already said goodbye to me so really…the hardest part is over ;o)
Reblogged this on The Travelling Twin and commented:
Sitting in the office today doing waiting for the old, speedo-clad Germans to inquire about what activities we offer, and searching for inspiration as to what to write about, I thought I would take a look back to the beginning of this crazy blog and see what I used to mull over.
I came across this little gem, which I find fairly fitting as I am, once again, leaving. In 9 days I will be on another plane, heading to another place, to see another list of awesome things. It’s all changed a bit though. Instead of heading into the unknown, I’m going to meet up with friends that I’ve met over the years. Instead of having a massive list of ‘Things to See and Do’ that used to have items like ‘Italy’, now my list is more refined, more manageable. I know I can’t see it all, and I’ll be happy with what I do get to do . . . and probably also happy to have a ‘rain day’ and just sit around drinking tea.
I’m leaving a place that I have lived for longer than any of the other places I’ve lived or been, other than Vancouver. Salalah has become a very weird sort of home. I still have a love/hate relationship with this place, but knowing that a lot of my friends here will also move on in the next few months makes it easier for me to go ahead and not look back.
Still, there are a lot of goodbyes to be said . . . and some happy hellos waiting at the other end.