Goodbyes

Red Cheeks

How do I even begin?

We are sitting around the table, we have been here for two and a half hours. We are eating each other up. Savoring every each bite of our friends. We don’t want this meal to end. We don’t want this season to end. All the emotions come out in laughter. To laugh together.

How do I even begin to process my last day with these people? These strangers who have become like family. Eternal souls that I cherish and tomorrow I will have to wave them goodbye.

Watching them all pack up their suitcases I wander up and down the halls. The light streaming on the floor because they all have their doors open. They sit on each other’s bed, or stand in the doorway, or sit on each other’s suitcase while trying to zip it up. I come in and out of the doors. Sitting on floors and beds and lifting 50lbs over and over again. Each time they ask is like a hug to my soul.

They head off to the city and the rooms are empty. It’s a taste of what tomorrow will hold. I sit with the quiet. Imagining them out in the city one last time. Pictures in front of every monument. The clock strikes and it’s time for me to go meet them. These hours have been to long and I have to hug them when I see them again.

Squeeze

They squeeze it out of me.

A few minutes ago I was wondering if I was even sad they were leaving. Why am I not feeling more? Now with each hug the tears fall.

Looking in each of their eyes I’m reminded how grateful I am for them. And the memories and moments we have shared. I watch the vans pull away with so much precious cargo. Running along the sidewalk as they pull away. Hands and fingers out the windows. When they’ve gone too far I collapse. Into Hannah’s arms. Now with Tessa and Riccardo around my back. Goodbye baby chickies. It’s time to leave the nest.

Love Hard

This semester taught me to dive deep. To love hard.

In January I committed that I would love whoever God placed in my life from the very start. Who knew how special these people would become.

As I’m looking back on all my photos, trying to decide on the few to capture the semester, it’s only faces I want to share. When I call my sister to cry on the phone, it’s only people I want to tell her about.

God brings people in and out of our lives for a season. Some of those seasons are longer than others, but we have a choice to fully love and be present. And it might mean that it hurts more when the season closes, but we take hope.

One of the girls whispered in my ear before getting in the car, “If not sooner, I’ll see you in eternity!”