How do you say goodbye?

by Jennifer Bobiwash

Goodbye, farewell, au revoir  and ciao.  To express good wishes when parting or the end of a conversation.

Saying a goodbye.  An ending is sometimes a good place to start. To help get me started on my writing, I like to get inspiration from a quote, but while searching for a goodbye quote, all I found was sadness. My current thoughts about saying goodbye are about going on a trip.  More “see you soon” than “have a nice life”.  Quotes about goodbye left me with a finality of never seeing the person again.

I guess I’ve never really thought about what goodbye meant.  In my head the characters were just going away on a business trip, but in truth, that feeling of leaving someone behind is a lonely and scary thought.  As much as I want it to be a happy, freeing release, it’s really more like your guts are being ripped out and you’ll never feel whole again.  Your life is ending, you cannot go on.

Ok, I’m a bit dramatic, but in truth you are in a way moving on.  Leaving people behind.  Growing. Learning.  Rambling.  Oh, wait that’s me.  To me saying goodbye at the airport was sad, but I never thought of it a solitary moment.  They give their hugs and kisses at the curb.  One trying to hold the feelings in to be strong, the other a blubbering mess that cannot stop.  But as I think of these characters saying goodbye, I feel a loss.  It’s as though their lives are headed in two different directions.  The person boarding the plane has to go.  They don’t want to go, but must because they have obligations and that’s what grown-ups do.  It’s supposed to be a happy moment because they are doing what they love and are fortunate that someone is paying them to live their dream.  The person staying behind is living their dream as well though.

I want there to be a winner.  Someone who comes out ahead.  Someone who feels better for the choice of having to say goodbye.  I’ll have to think about this one a bit harder.  My flight is leaving.

Goodbye, farewell, au revoir  and ciao.