photo credit: theguardian.com

Waving good-bye is always bittersweet. It signals leaving someone I love, for whom I’m traveled miles and miles and now it is time to return home.

Sometimes I wonder what my impression is on others after I leave. What do I leave behind when I exit a room or a party? Love and encouragement and kindness? Or a “whew, I’m glad she’s gone because WOW she was in a bad mood today”? I am sure that it is both. Depending on the day, the occasion, and my interaction with others.

When family or dear friends who have become like family leave our home after a visit and gets back in their car, it is hard to see them leave. Long-distance refers not only to miles but in time between face-to-face relating. And it is hard for your heart to live in so many different places. South Carolina; Georgia; Philadelphia; Chicago; Hershey; Florida; Savannah; New Hampshire; Singapore; Kenya … to name a few.

Leaving of all kinds awakens the longing for a time and an eternal day when there will be no more leaving. It will be staying and celebrating and laughing and loving. A place I’ll never want to leave, and never will have to leave.

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The final post in the 31-day writing challenge (of which I wrote almost all 31). Read all of them here. And it’s also a belated Five-Minute Friday post, too {five minutes of writing on a prompted topic with a fabulous link-up of other bloggers}.