Saying Goodbye Means Saying Hello.

So begins my 4 month adventure.

Here at gate H9 there are a cocktail of emotions...sadness. happiness. anticipation. anxiety. exhilaration. exhaustion.

I am saying hello to a new world with new people, a new city, a new language. While this is exciting and I'm looking forward to the journey through the Thai culture I am also in a funk. While I'm saying hello to this new life I am also saying goodbye to the life, and more importantly the people I love.

I have said goodbye to people I care about many times before...family, friends, pets, but they were the ones always leaving. I would sit and cry in their absence while they went on to better things in the world or a new life beyond the clouds. Now that it's the other way around I see their point of view. It's thrilling to leave and also awakening. You begin to really grasp the importance of the people in your life.

In this goodbye I have found a certain comfort. Comfort in the fact that I have a multitude of people that I love and love me in return. To see how difficult it is to leave them reveals to me how amazing it is to have so many meaningful relationships. I am truly blessed and though I will miss them something terrible they will be there for me when I return. I know that in saying goodbye I am saying hello to more incredible people.