Starts with Goodbye

I thought it fitting that my first blog post comes at a time in my life when a lot of things were ending.

Goodbyes are some of the hardest things we as humans have to go through. Whether it’s saying goodbye for a short period of time, or forever, it is painful. I have said goodbye to more people in the past year than I could ever have imagined.

Last year a close friend unexpectedly passed away in a car accident.  My little sister is moving on and starting a family of her own. I left my job to move out of state. I had to leave some old friends behind as well as my home town. And I parted with some wonderful new friends who I know I will see more of in the future. But you know the strangest thing about goodbyes is that they always come with a new beginning.

With all of these goodbyes my life had moved forward. Sometimes it feels like a bad thing, ripping your heart out of your chest. Other times it brings excitement and a whole new world of possibilities. I titled this after Carrie Underwood’s song not just because I thought it was poetic, but also because that song has been a healing force for me over the past few years. It helps me to remember that though it may hurt, I still carry on. The goodbyes of my life helped to shape who I am.

So take heart. It is the love we share that make endings so hard. And it is a privilege to have something that makes an ending difficult. While it can be painful, it reminds us we are loved and how much we love them in return. As a dear friend recently reminded me with the of the words of Winnie the Pooh,

“How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard.” – A.A. Milne