Goodbye Time

The six volunteers gathered yesterday afternoon. It was all hugs and “how are yous?” over tea and snacks. It was lively, celebratory, and fun, as it usually is after we have spent time apart.

Today, however, was a bit more subdued. It’s the last day of June, exactly one month before the first volunteer is schedule to go home, and we have gathered this weekend to say our formal goodbyes.

We are reminiscing and reflecting. We are looking back for a moment, then turning to look ahead. Our hearts are heavy as we leave the past behind us, but we look to the future with bright eyes. After all, the future means families, friends, and certain types of food, all of which have been sorely missed. The future also means sorely missing the families, friends, and certain types of foods that we have had here. Leaving India will not necessarily mean the ending of our adventures, but we do have to bid the country and all it has meant to us a proper farewell.

And it is starting right now. We volunteers will meet once more before the first one boards her plane. And even then, that won’t be a final goodbye. But to our communities and the people in them whom we have grown to love, we will soon have to say a goodbye that is much more likely to be final. We are preparing for that together now.

I know that, for me, the goodbye process will be a bittersweet one. I so look forward to arriving at O’Hare, hugging my mom and dad, and then hurrying them off to the nearest restaurant serving juicy hamburgers. I so look forward to seeing in person those friends who have been walking with me in spirit this year. I look forward to sleeping in my own bed, taking a hot shower in the morning, making my own coffee, and driving my own car (well, perhaps one of my parents’ cars). I look forward to going home. I look forward to saying hello.

But first, I must say goodbye.