In with the wind and out with the wind!

Why are they called GOOD-BYES? Well, let me tell you.

This week, actually, in the last month, I've been SO BLESSED with various stages of good-bying: saying farewell, so long, hasta luego, nos vemos to various people...

Drawn-out despedida (farewell)... the steps to saying goodbye:

1. Going away card from Dinorah, May 12 (leaving for her summer vacay).

2. Goodbye party for me and Bean, June 3.

3. Going away presents from the staff before Travis leaves on his vacay.

4. Benjamin (from YWAM) saying goodbye to us in the office one afternoon.

5. Travis leaving June 9.

6. Goodbye lunch with Margarita.

7. Goodbye cafecito with Lula.

8. Bean's goodbye dinner at Casa Kuki, with our host fam and friends.

9. Bean leaving June 14: packing, goodbye lunch on the 13th, empty room.

10. Long conversations about my departure with various student & visiting groups coming and going.

11. MY goodbye dinner with Hannia at Casa Kuki.

12. Goodbyes with the staff and students during my last lunch on Tues. 3rd.

13. Cafecito with the staff on the afternoon of the 3rd, exchanging cards, words, thoughts.

14. Goodbye to my special host families & others one last time: William & Zayra, Hannia (again), and even the post office man (will somebody PLEASE figure out his name for sure for us? I think it's David???)

15. Goodbye to guards and some staff members Tuesday evening.

16. Tuesday night, picking up Kim Hernandez and her family, and then promptly saying goodbye the same night as we went to bed.

17. Wednesday morning, saying goodbye to all the staff members one last time, Lindy, the guards, and the dogs (I think I'm gonna miss Feijão the most!)

18. We drove by the bank on the way to the airport so I could say goodbye to Henry, the parking man.

19. Said farewell to Andrew after my bags had been checked and paid for. 

Two and a half weeks before my own departure date, Luis commented that I have a month-long, drawn out despedida. Truth. About T minus 3 weeks, I think I was at my lowest... overwhelmed with work. No, overwhelmed with everything in life. Nothing was making much sense... the fact that my colleagues had already left on vacation/finished their time at the CRC, and I was left alone, without emotional support of my colleagues (a.k.a. friends & roommate), and with the burden of so many different tasks at work, attempting to keep up on my personal life as well, and feeling quite frustrated and unable to cope with the workload. Imagine being the one that all three or four different groups of students, multiple staff members, host families, and others come to with all their various questions--phone, email, in person--shooting at me in a variety of communicational medias. Sooooo confusing. Plus questions from the next incoming group (here up until the day before I need to pack up myself and leave life here at the CRC for the last 18 months).

Too many logistical details to keep straight that on one particular occasion, when a student came into the office, I literally had to back the boat up, remind myself who she was, what program she was with, and why she was asking me what time tomorrow we'd be picking her up. What's tomorrow? Where is she going? Why are we picking her up? I went through several days when my words just couldn't keep up with my thoughts, and my thoughts just weren't organized in any way--definitely not in linear fashion!--so everything just collapsed in sobs and tears.

Today, I am faring much better. Nearly everything on the to-do lists got checked off! With time to spare (a bit. at least, the 4-hour conversation with Kim last night was possible, even if it did last until 2am!). With 3 hours of night sleep, I will sleep well on the plane! Though teary-eyed and sentimental with goodbyes, this morning I am not a wreck. Now, the bags are checked--though just a couple pounds overweight, and they were passed through just fine. I'm waiting at my first gate, about to leave CR forever(?). Technology makes goodbyes so much easier. Skyping, the anticipation of correspondence, and more. 

I feel so blessed by the words spoken to me by everyone in the last several days. Phone calls, goodbyes in person, gifts, cards, notes, emails, and more. January 2011, I came in with the wind and rain, and today I go out with the wind. The winds of change carry me on to life's following adventures. 

To California I go now! In one week, I'm off for Europe for a few weeks with my aunt! Stay tuned, blog-readers!