Tag: loss

Not Everyone Waves Goodbye

(Photo: Kirsti H. Backman)

We say it, we think it, we hear it and we experience it pretty much every single day.

The goodbyes.

Some are silent. Some are loud. Some are just politeness. Some are filled with tears, some with smiles, and some with both. There are goodbyes that needs to be said. There are those who feels like should’ve never happened.

Some people leave. Some are taken. Some we leave behind.

The long one.

Sometimes we know when it will happen. There’s time to say goodbye in all kinds of ways. In every kiss, every hug and every moment of eyes meeting.  Knowing the day will come, but spending it together even though the inevitable goodbye will eventually arrive. And when it does, you realize that you can never really be prepared.

The sudden one.

Sometimes it takes us by surprise.  Leaving you with just enough time to say the words, to get a final moment, or to wave. Sometimes, not even that. Find yourself left behind with so much more you wanted to say but didn’t have the time to. Unprepared and lost for words as to how to express all the emotions running through you.

The much-needed one. 

Sometimes we plan out goodbyes for so long, but put them off out of fear. We know it’s the right thing to do, but the uncertainty of what will happen after the goodbye is so frightening that we choose to postpone it again, and again. Then one day, it finally comes out in the open, and the burden is lifted. But even the most needed goodbyes come with a sense of pain and grief.

The silent one.

Sometimes people just decide to exit without a goodbye. Like a light switch that’s been turned off, they just disappear. You find yourself left behind in a dark place filled with unanswered questions. Instead of getting to say goodbye to that someone, you say goodbye through your tears and your own silence. Hoping that one day, you’ll stop wondering and stop asking the questions. So you whisper your goodbyes to the wind, hoping they might be carried to the right place.

☼

There are all kinds of goodbyes, and they’re happening everywhere all the time. But in the chaos of all the goodbyes, remember that there are also hellos. All the people we encounter throughout a day. All the stories they carry right next to us. The world is filled with friends and lovers we have yet to come to know.

The world is a confusing, but wonderful place. It’s a home to all of us. Look around. Do you really see them? Take the time to pay attention to the people you’re sharing your home with.

Not everyone waves goodbye. Not every goodbye is an ending, but every hello is a potential beginning ❤️

Hello.

 

 

 

The Lost Sound

She sat on the porch and looked out over the big garden that stretched all the way down to the river that slowly passed by. Hopeful and waiting she studied each meter, but mostly she listened. Her ears were searching for that sound that had been with her for as long as she could remember. The one that made the green grass and the dancing river feel like her home. Minutes passed in silence, and every second that turned up without the sound seemed like a tiny eternity of something lost.

She wished for it to not be gone. For that day to turn over into the next where she would hear it again. Deep down though, she knew it had nothing to do with which day she listened for it. The silence had been there for days. Suddenly one morning it had just disappeared. She waited impatiently for it to return, but was waiting for something that never would be more than a memory.

A silent drop of salt water rolled down her cheek as she came to terms with the truth. She had grown older and ageing had robbed her.

She would never hear the crickets sing again.

©Christina de Vries