“To say goodbye is everyone’s wish at the end,” he said, “but never granted. It is time, Keturah.”
~~~Martine Leavitt, Keturah and Lord Death.
I wrote out a numbered schedule, hit an enter key to shoot it off to my friend 555-some miles away from me. Both of us can see thoughts in milliseconds, through G-chatting.
I’d just come back from a teaching job, and numbered out ideas and plans. Because checking something off of a to-do list brings a high all of its own.
1. Have a cup of hot tea.
2. Sit down and memorize a few chapters…give a couple hours for that….
3. (I should put piano practice in this slot….) Piano practice.
4. Write! Or read! A lot!
The two of us smiled at my reluctance to tickle the keys, and then fell silent. (Considering an instant message conversation’s only noises are little key-board clicks.)I began to read, then noticed that the little icon signalling her online presence was gray.
Two possibilities.
“Didst leave?” (enter-key)
“Or is your computer giving you trouble?” (enter-key)
” I hope it is the latter…..Because we didn’t get a chance to say goodbye.”
The page turn for my 21st chapter happened a week ago, today. Twenty-one….India’s coming of age, as opposed to 18 in America.
Goals and dreams….there’s ongoing targets from previous years, and some new ones that bode an interesting journey for this Arrow.
My twenty-first bids me say goodbye.
It struck me first as a fifteen-year-old, sitting in a living room packed 20-some relatives full….
Why do we wait until those we love are gone to share the memories, to praise and bless, to thank?
“Without her there in that spot, this room feels so empty!” an aunt exclaimed. Her bracelets made a quiet song as she gestured to a spot on the couch nobody thought to occupy. Yes, the room was empty, though people filled it. And though the sharing and unity was sweet, it was unshared with the one who should have had it.
We express love, we hold each other just a little closer, take a little time to look at a person– to truly gaze and let souls touch for a moment– when we say goodbye. We give thanks to let them know their goodness was not taken for granted…that it was known and appreciated. In goodbye is our chance to encourage, to leave behind solid blocks of ivory, and radiant yards of silk with which they might build and beautify and remember.
But we rarely do say goodbye.
It has been said that “To say goodbye is everyone’s wish….but never granted.”
Never granted, for it was never thought of. Naively we trust in all the time in the world and do not think that farewell is a thief in the night, who in a moment wraps in his embrace, and in another is too far for words to catch.
Why, oh why do we tarry till too late to say goodbye! One rose given in life means more than bouquets over a coffin.
Why will we not live the love, while we can love the life?
My twenty-first bids me say farewell to those I love…for now might be my last chance.
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