I don't much care to say "goodbye". It's so final. So I will never see you again-ish. I usually will say "see ya" or "later". Sometimes I'll let out a "bye" and that's as close to an actual "goodbye" I will have.
But, in the same, I don't like long "goodbyes" either. That just makes it more agonizing. Long "goodbyes" come when you have been with somebody that is very close and you will be separated for a long time and that's hard to think about so you just want to hang on to this moment and embrace...look at the ground...kick the dirt...say, "Yup"...
That's the worst.
It's like a band-aid. Rip it off, man! Get it over with!
Recently, we have had to say goodbye to a couple of people. My wife's grandmother passed away at 90-something years. I didn't really know her and when family began to share stories about her, wow, I really didn't know her. She was a prankster and a servant and a lady... Really, an amazing woman. She was also a believer that loved Jesus and knew where she was going when she died and everyone knew it. She also wasn't into saying "goodbye". But, rather, "See you later". As in, "I'm going to be with the Lord now. I will see you there, too".
Today, we had to say goodbye to another friend who was not here quite as long as grandma. Which is another hard pill to swallow. I hadn't talked with him for awhile but, I knew his daughter and had a Facebook connection with her. She is a dear friend and was in our wedding. One day, I get a message that he doesn't have long to live and if we could pray for him. That's not a message you want to receive.
I don't know what has been going on in this mans life for the last 29 years but, I do know what he did for me 29 years ago. He was one of the men, outside of my own family, that looked me in the eye and said, "I have your back". I knew I could go to him with anything and he'd be there.
I was young, married and with a baby and confused. I didn't know where to go or what to do. His daughter encouraged me to go talk to him about a job. I didn't want to do that. She said, "GO". So I did. He gave me a little project to do. Transferring drawing notes over to the drawing changes. Lettering. He said you have 3 days. Now, it's all done on a PC. Then, it was a skill.
I worked on it... Did my best....Worked on it again.....Made it better... Did it again...
When I took it back to him he told me to shut the door. He looked at it. Made some low noises like a doctor makes. Looked at me. Looked at the drawing. Then he rolled it up and said with his trademark grin, "This is really bad."
The thing about this man is it could always be worse. Then he would find something funny about it and move on. After he basically popped my bubble, we sat there for about an hour and he told me things about goals and family. Getting my priorities right and how God needs to be involved in all that. To never give up and learn from screwing up. To love and more importantly, have fun. Enjoy the things you have and not worry about the things you don't have because in the end, they really don't matter. Family matters and how well you loved them matters.
You never walked away from this man feeling low. He always encouraged you. Made you feel good about yourself. That was evident in the stories shared about him today. Like I said, I don't know what went on in the last 29 years, but when we had that talk, he was a man of God then and I believe he was a man of God in his last days here. So, it's not "Goodbye" , it's "Til we meet again, Sir."
One funny story
There was a group of us that were notorious for shenanigans. We would TP houses, fork lawns, put cars on blocks, whatever. If anything was going to make this man angry, it would be falling victim to us. And we had never seen him angry.
One day, a buddy and I had a plan. We had figured out how to jimmy the garage door open and get in the house. Once inside, we were going to TP his daughters room. We figured out a time when no one would be home. In the middle of a beautiful sunny day, we did our thing and open the door only to find this man and his trademark smile standing there with a fully charged garden hose. He soaked us. We scrambled back to the car the whole time he was laughing. Oh, man, he loved to laugh. At us. As far as I know, only the 3 of us ever knew what happened. We never did get him. Somehow, he always knew. Hmmm....
