Saying Goodbye

I remember once as a kid, my parents dropped me off with my aunt and uncle in Columbus to spend a week in the summer. Being away from my immediate family for the first time, I was intensely afraid. I didn't want to let my parents go and couldn't even sleep the first night. But then when they picked me, I cried on the way home because I already missed my aunt, uncle, and cousins so much.

The funny thing is, as a 21 year old, I still feel this same anxiety whenever I leave a place. I have been waiting all summer to get back to Lincoln to be with my friends again and then, yesterday, when I got in the car to leave I wanted to cry just like I did leaving Columbus all those years ago. I already missed my family so much.

We can't always be with everyone we love. Everyone has their own paths and they aren't the same paths as all of our loved ones. Moments like these, though, help me to remember to appreciate all the moments when our paths do cross. It's common to hear "don't live in the past", but you can't always be looking to the future either. Appreciate the present and the people in it, because before you know it, you might have to say goodbye.