<p>As the title suggests, saying goodbye is never an easy task. I’m not talking about laying a loved one in the ground or anything in that category. No no. I’m talking about letting your closest friends off to college (or Taiwain, in stacey’s case.) It’s so weird. First, we get out of the car and pretend like it’s normal and we’ll be fine, seeing each other fresh and re-energized for another day tomorrow, maybe to go to a lovely sushi restaurant, perhaps off to the nearest barnes and noble to do nothing having to do with book shopping! Next, we stand there in the slightly dew-stricken grass, it’s still lingering close to midnight. Shuffle our feet, left right, look down to the ground. Do the tears well up yet? I’m not sure, but something doesn’t seem quite right.</p>
<p>Suddenly our skin gets hot and cold at the same time, and we start pulling things out of the air to try and defer the moment to a later time, if possible. “The time when X happened,” or, “Dumpling Land!” Oh, don’t get me wrong, those dumplings tickle my fancy. I love them. But, something about the fact that it will be the last conversation between the lucky trio (stacey, liz, and I) makes the moment bittersweet, not just the taste of the dumpling.</p>
<p>The conversation ends, and we know it won’t go too much further. We think. Then I start galloping like a past “friend” (no really he wasn’t…the aerodynamically efficient brauntosaurus.) I guess I was just trying to strike up some last minute humor, all compliments of Tibetan Tea :).</p>
<p>I know it’s coming, the tears. They don’t. Why would I cry? Nobody is dying, we’re just going our separate ways for a few moments (that shall last a year for some, and for others, like Liz, my other close friend, and I, only until November. Then again until December.) It’s hard to know. Stacey is another close friend of mine, and it’ll be at least a year until we re-unite with shi ma hands. That will be the greatest day! </p>
<p>One thing is for sure. Funerals are tough. Another thing is for sure. Saying goodbye to somebody that’s living, when you know you will see them again, but things about your relationships are uncertain, can be even tougher. It’s just not right for us to feel this way so young. Maybe it is! Maybe I’m just a brat after all, who knows? Other people in other countries have it so much harder than we do saying our goodbyes.</p>