support and saying goodbye

I have been overwhelmed with the amount of responses I have received from people who want to say goodbye and keep updated on my life in Alaska. Sometimes you just don't know what you have until you leave it, you know? I knew I had it good, but was still amazed to see that proven over the past few weeks.

Sometimes saying goodbye triggers things that may not have happened otherwise. While I cannot truly know they wouldn't happen without the goodbye, it does seem that way. One of these things was an impromptu neighborhood gathering. My family was out on the porch when one of our neighbors came over, knowing I was leaving soon for Alaska. Soon, her husband came out with another neighbor. My dad had placed a telescope in the lawn, which attracted yet more neighbors. A while later, a fire started in the handmade firepit next to us while the neighbors crowded around. We talked and laughed late into the night. Ah, the friendships you develop before you leave...

Another goodbye was a couple of Sundays ago. Friends of mine had their second baby girl not too long ago and I had babysat their first girl since she was two months old. While holding the second baby, the only things that reminded me that was a baby and not a doll was her breathing and tiny movements. She was so sweet to hold and as I did so, I hoped I would get to know her in person some day.

The last goodbye I will write about in this post is saying goodbye to work at the middle school. I helped as much as I could before my last day. It was good to see the students start their first week, run my last chapel and say goodbye to staff and faculty. At the end, they had a farewell party for me in the library of the school (featuring the hat a few posts old). Even though I had been there only two years, I felt like I had been a member of their team for a lot longer. What a nice family of people with which to work.