Good grief, readers, I CANNOT BELIEVE that in all the thousands of posts I’ve written here that I have NEVER written about Goodbyes before. (I did, however, write a good enough post about “Closure” during my good first year of blogging and good closure is important for a good goodbye.)
It’s good that I’m writing about Goodbyes now because today I’m saying goodbyes to my good son Aaron, who is returning to his good school in Edinburgh and also goodbyes to his good girlfriend Widad who is leaving for the good city of New York before she returns to her good school in Scotland.
In my good work as a psychotherapist, I often ask good people how they tend to say goodbyes. Most people say, “I’m not good at goodbyes.”
Are you good at goodbyes?
I wonder if any of my good photos from yesterday relate to goodbyes.
My good husband took a photo of good Aaron, good Widad, and good enough me last night when we were having some good goodbye gelato after our good goodbye dinner.
Here’s a really good photo of Widad’s good cat Casper, who is home in the good country of Jordan.
Last night, my good husband asked my good son’s good girlfriend if he had told her anything about me before she met me and her good reply was this: “He told me that you were good to talk to.”
There are many good songs about goodbyes on YouTube and here is one of them, by the good Jorja Smith (who was featured in this post from a good two days ago):
Because some of my good readers (probably in Great Britain) can’t see Vevo videos, here’s another one of that good song.
What makes good goodbyes is expressing appreciation, so good thanks to all who help me create good posts, including YOU!
The Year(s) of Living Non-Judgmentally 
Goodbyes are so important in bereavement that it is very sad when we don’t have warning of the necessity.
Thank you for this very good comment about goodbyes, my good man.
I got very good at goodbyes from the age of 16 to 45 when moving every 6 months to 3 years. They didn’t necessarily become easier with practice though!
Thanks for another very good comment, my good friend.
I cannot imagine that any student could have had better family time over winter break than Aaron had with you, Michael and his father this year, Ann. I am sure he is returning to school feeling very loved.
Goodbyes can be hard but there’s no perfect cure. Knowing that Aaron described you to Widad as being “good to talk to” hopefully lifts your heart a little.
Your good comments always lift my heart, Maureen.
After my high school graduation I started to say goodbye to a friend but he stopped me. “See you later,” he said. “‘Goodbye’ is not in my vocabulary.”
We lost touch after that and I’ve never heard from him again, but I’ve never stopped hoping we’ll cross paths. Most goodbyes, I’ve learned, aren’t permanent. They’re simply another way of saying “see you later”.
Good to see you here, my good friend, and I know I shall see you later.
Permanant goodbyes are hard- it also simbolizes the end of hope I would rather not say them. I think it’s all up to the individual..
Thanks for another very good comment.
For me to say goodbye is equal with permanent goodbye. I prefer See you and then I really hope to see those souls again.
I’m always so glad to see your soulful comments here, Irene. See you soon!
See you, Ann 🙂
I like to say bye for now or catch ya later, goodbye is what I had to say to my Dad and it stilll hurts
It still hurts that my dad is gone, Jo-Anne. Catch you later, my good blogging friend.
The hardest ones are those never spoken. Two friends died in the past year. The died before I could talk one last time with them. In one instance, the friend seriously needed someone to say things supportive of him. He died, in debt, and, thanks to the City of Paris, was given a decent funeral, cremation, and
…a scattering of his ashes in a place in Père Lachaise Cemetery. I think he would have liked that because of the others he joined there. It was a better ending to his life than expected, though was a distressing last few months for his friends as we were unable to be of significant help. I’m still sad I couldn’t say something to him, to end our association and decades long friendship on an encouraging note.
I had two friends die in the past year, too, my good blogging friend. One I didn’t get a chance to say goodbye to and the other one I did, by mail. Thanks for sharing all this today.
Oh, nuts, goodbyes are so sad, Ann.
You are good for me and good for the planet, my good friend.
I think it must be very hard to say goodbye to Aaron, Ann. I’m not at all good at goodbyes, and in fact, when I was much younger I really did avoid them to the point of being a little rude. But it was the fear of expressing too much emotion. Now at least I know the value in saying what needs to be said. I wonder if anyone is really “good” with goodbyes? 😦
You are really good at a lot of things, my good friend.