Hopeful Goodbyes


It was about 3:00 in the morning and I was listening to my grandson finish packing his belongings before heading back to college. Even though he had to get up in three hours, I knew he’d still try and get a couple hours of sleep before his ride came. I could already picture him groggily walking out the door. 


We’d soon be saying goodbye. Hopefully he’d remember my big hug.


As I listened to him pack his things, I thought about his early childhood years, when tears would slip down his cheeks as he left our cabin to go back home, now I knew how he felt. 


And isn’t life just a steady lineup of goodbyes? Parents say goodbye to the fleeting newborn weeks. Then too quickly, it’s goodbye to childhood. 


Teens think it will never happen, but soon they say goodbye to their childhood home. In their newly minted adult excitement, they may not realize it won’t ever be the same again. And it isn’t.


I’ve said plenty of goodbyes in my life, and so have you. 


But the best goodbyes are the ones filled with hope. I hope for my grandson’s next semester. I hope for his future plans. I hope he knows how much he’s loved.



I watched him leave and then stayed to watch the taillights vanish down the road. 


Hope helps your heart when the one you love is absent.


I’ve learned that having hope doesn’t mean you’ll know what will happen next. 


But I’ve also learned that what builds hope is a whole lot of prayer.


And that makes saying goodbye easier.

 

Popular posts from this blog

Counting the Cost

Image
Something big is missing in this photo. Let me explain. Here in my hometown, the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe prepared a parcel of land for a new hotel. Plenty of planning and architectural designs were evaluated. A gemstone of a hotel would be built across from the waterfront—a beautiful, restful place welcoming travelers. A true four-star facility.   They cleared the aging brick structures that had been fading away between Front Street and Railroad Avenue. Then the pandemic hit, shortages of labor and supplies, add in the costly inflation that followed. Everything stopped.   But this is what I admire about the Elwha Tribe: they have counted the cost. They didn’t want to move forward and take on tremendous debt. They would rather move slowly and be financially ready, rather than begin building and then letting it sit unfinished.   Counting the cost is something I should have done earlier in life when I didn’t know what high interest rates would do to our farming cost...
Read more

Summertime Music

Image
During the summer months, in an outside seating area, a delightfully painted piano sits with a sign that says, “Play me”.   It was just before 8 pm as I walked past the piano. My bus would be arriving soon, and I still have another ten minutes to walk before reaching my bus stop. But no one is around. It’s a beautiful warm evening. I pulled out the piano bench and sat down. The sun was behind me, and the piano keys reflected its glow. I had no music in front of me, only the songs within me. Notes drifted into the air.  In those brief moments, the magic of music and summer came together. Isn’t that how it is? Summertime music has a way of lingering in our minds and lasting a lifetime. As I stood and grabbed my things, I heard distant clapping—I guess I wasn’t alone, after all.
Read more

Planting Good Seeds

Image
Harvest will always depend on what we plant and how well we care for our crop.    Looking over my seed packets, I notice they’re different than the ones I planted before. One package is called Word seeds. The directions say that each of my words is a seed, so it cautions me to think before I speak. Harsh words don’t produce sweet, nourishing fruit. These seeds will require thoughtful care in the garden. I see some Volunteer seeds. Those extra hours I tend to fritter away are going to be planted in a useful project.   It looks like time isn’t wasted in this garden plot. Next are some Love seeds—the directions are interesting: get up each day and love others. No specifics are given—just do something for someone every day. The seed package shows pictures of smiling faces. I smile back. As I’m ready to head to the garden with my seeds, a package falls to the ground. I open it. Inside are the tiniest seeds I’ve ever seen—but the directions s...
Read more