One Last Goodbye

            Never did I truly appreciate the term bittersweet until now.  I’ve spent the past week saying a lot of goodbyes.  First, I sent off my friends leaving early for school.  These goodbyes seemed almost out of place—premature, but they were real and hit hard.  Then, Monday night I had the bros over my house for one last high school slumber party.  We pulled our usual shenanigans and hung out, cherishing our last moments together as a group.  Tuesday, I went to the obligatory dinner with my grandparents.  After all, how could I leave town without getting one last quality meal.  Following dinner, I hurried over to another friend’s house where a handful of guys and girls hung out and reminisced as the college departures became even more imminent.  These goodbyes were some of my most difficult, including a few of my closest friends, and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t shed any tears.

            But it wasn’t until tonight that I really lost it.  After one last dinner with my parents and sister, I had one final visitor.  My neighbor rang the doorbell and I hurried to answer it.  At first, everything seemed normal.  We small talked, and he returned my copy of Skyrim (I couldn’t go to college without it).  Soon, however, the conversation became more sentimental.  We talked of all the great times we’d had in this house, at school, on the field.  Any other time I’d just flip on the Xbox and we could concentrate on FIFA or Halo…shooting aliens in the face never gets old, but my Xbox was already unplugged and packed away.

            We’ve been friends a long time.  In fact, we met at age 4 in preschool.  It wasn’t long before we learned that we lived just six houses apart, and the rest was history.  Of course, when we moved on to elementary and middle school we were separated, but we still hung out on the weekends and sledded together on snow days.

            Then high school came and we were finally reunited.  In Spanish class together at The Park School it was like a dream come true.  Then again, sometimes things seem too good to be true.  We certainly had our rough patches.  After so many years, arguments and falling outs seemed inevitable.  But, each time the damage seemed irreparable, things always seemed to work themselves out.  So tonight, I said goodbye one more time.  This time it was to a friend who will always have a special place in my heart, no matter how many miles separate us.  Good luck at school.  I love you, man.