Starts With Goodbye

I had my iPhone on shuffle the other day and came across an old song of Carrie Underwood's called "Starts With Goodbye." It's about how breakups are really hard, but a line stuck out to me: "It's sad but sometimes moving on with the rest of your life starts with goodbye."

Well, I thought of that again when I had to say goodbye to my new favorite missionary. You would think that since I'm almost 20 I would be used to saying goodbye to missionaries, but the truth is I was never really good friends with the guys at my high school or the guys in my freshman ward enough to be really sad when they left. So what gives this kid that I met at EFY four years ago the right to make me cry when he leaves for Paraguay?

Long story short, I honestly don't think they make guys like him anymore. He has always treated me with respect and lets me know how special I am. He has never made me do anything I didn't want to do (with the exception of rock climbing haha) and he has taken me on about 15 dates over the course of 3 years just to let me know that I'm worth it. He is seriously one of the best friends I've ever had, and has saved my sanity on several occasions.

Have you ever realized how your life is defined by the goodbyes? High school graduation, leaving for college, death in the family, breakups?

Handling the goodbyes is how we can determine our success later on. I see friends struggling to let go of the past, and therefore are stuck about a year behind everyone else. And then there are people like me, who once they say goodbye are too eager to forget in order to make the pain go away temporarily.

I like to think of myself as a loyal person, I like keeping up with people if I get the chance. But sometimes I'm not always good at keeping tabs on people I used to be really good friends with. But I think there is a good balance between having fond memories of the past and looking forward to the future. Moving on, accepting change, and becoming a better person can start with goodbye, but we have to choose for it to be a learning experience and let it change use for the better.

The important thing to remember is goodbye is NOT forever. You will get the chance to see people again whether it be in a few months, 2 years or even in our next lifetime.