Saying Good-Bye

It is always difficult to say good bye to a friend who is moving to a different city. Even if the city she is moving to is not far away, the dynamics of your friendship changes. No more spur-of-the moment plans, no walks together or attending last-minute events together. When you live several hours from each other, everything must be planned ahead of time. My friend R is moving to a new life tomorrow. Her house is packed up (almost), her boxes are stacked (more or less) and she is ready for her last day of work. As she leaves her career and this city, she is moving to a city where she will be close to her daughter, her son and her two grand-children. Needless to say, she is ecstatic about moving and is looking forward to her new condo and spending time with her family. So now, she will have family to share spur-of-the moment plans, to go for walks with and to attend last-minutes events with. Although, selfishly, I will miss R, I am so happy for her. This is what she has planned for and worked toward, and she is making it happen. It is one of life’s quirks that R and I even became friends. I was originally friends with her daughter. When R’s daughter walks into a room she lights it up with her energy, her conversation is animated with gestures and laughter, and she can hold you spellbound when she tells a story. When she moved away, I think R and I reached out to each other because we missed her, and we had our admiration for her in common. Who knew then that R and I would become such good friends? As I got to know her better, I began to see where her daughter got her qualities from! As well, R became my “music buddy”. We went to many public concerts and home concerts together. R has a great sense of humour, is artistic, musical and is an intelligent and vibrant woman. Her grandchildren are so lucky to have the chance to grow up with R in their daily life – what a gift that is! Knowing that, even though you will miss her, your friend is going on to a better life and you are happy for her . . . it’s a good thing!