Letting something go that you'd rather have stick around,
the death of something that will never be the same,
the opportunity to welcome something new and do some growing yourself,
and a unique place to realize how much you appreciate people.
All in all, I'd say saying goodbye is a pretty interesting process.
Our girls say many goodbyes: to teams, interns, missionaries and even tías on occasion. For the newer ones and the younger ones, all this coming and going takes a good deal of figuring out. Every time someone leaves the Oasis, a sweet little pair of dark eyes looks up at me and asks,
"When are you leaving?". . . and I don't know what to tell them.
It matters, because loving and loosing hurts.
I want to say, "NEVER! I will be with you forever!" and I want to fly to Ramsey, MN like, oh, you know, YESTERDAY. How long exactly am I going to be here? Fantastic question. . . one to which I have absolutely no answer and for which I can't plan. Right now, I'm living what is and trusting that God has the next steps taken care of. But I still ask Him what the plan is at least once a day.
In the mean time, I get to learn what it's like on the staying-side of leaving. These girls are teaching me a lot.
Lots of love from far away,
Renae
