TUESDAY, August 12th
Rachel, my linguist friend from play group, came by to say goodbye. They're all pretty much packed up and ready to head to Sabah, a region of Malaysia on the island of Borneo, where they plan to stay indefinitely while they do their work there.
It's somewhat sad to say goodbye, but this is what I'm going to have to get used to. The next several months will be filled with more goodbyes to friendships cut too short. But I think there is something beautiful, almost poetic, about the short-term friend.
With such a friend there is only the unmarred beauty of a few weeks or months worth of outings spent together; enough time to develop a mutual admiration and some memorable laughs shared. Goodbyes are not the wretched, tearing apart of old, dear friends, but rather a parting of ways -- slightly bitter with the wish that you'd had time to get to know each other better yet also sweet with truly selfless hopes for the future you will not share.
I especially love the extra-short term friends that drift in and out of your life while you're on vacation or on a drunken night out on the town. Those people you know only for a few short hours, with whom you share so little and yet just enough laughs and stories to fall in love just a little bit before it's time to say 'so long.'
Fear not dear long-term friends. You are, of course, the best kind of all for all those obvious reasons to do with support through difficult times, and the comfort that comes with our common histories. But mostly because I know that you never really go away. As many times as we may say goodbye, I know there will always be hello's to come.
Saying goodbye to Rachel is made a little sadder because it also means it's Regin's first friend that's leaving his life. Despite their age difference (Abe is about 9 or 10 months, I think, and Regin is 16 months -- a big difference at this age) they get a long so well when they are together. Abe is relentless in trying to interact with Regin, and Regin is fascinated by the smiling, stomach-crawling little boy. He's so fascinated that after one visit together recently, Regin started crawling again off and on for a few days!
Here are some photos from their last (15-minute) play date:
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