Good-Bye... Farewell... Until We Meet Again

It was just over 10 years ago that my husband came home to our little flat on East 13th Street in Erie, Pennsylvania and asked me how I felt about moving to North Carolina. I remember I was standing at the kitchen stove cooking dinner and I looked up at him and I said, "I'm tired of being cold".

That winter of 2000-2001, was a rough one.  We had record snowfall that winter at 149.1 inches.  That's a lot of snow.  That's a lot of cold. So much so, that one might actually consider a move south.  So, when the opportunity presented itself, we took it. 

Once Gene accepted his company's offer at a job at headquarters in Cary, I felt like I was on a roller coaster ride that I had absolutely no control of.  Sometimes exhilarating, sometimes frightening, it was a constant up and down of feelings and emotions, highs and lows, until the ride came to a stop here, in the Triangle.  As we exited the ride, we glanced at each other and promised, we'll give it a year.  If we can't make it work, back to Pennsylvania we go.  

We've been here just shy of 10 years now.

These past few weeks there have been many good-byes.  Good-bye to school teachers, and dance instructors, and Little Gym workers.  Good-bye to classmates, to fellow moms in the car pool lane. Good bye to the babysitter, and favorite waitresses, and hair dressers, and the receptionist at the dentist's office.  And just like all people are different, the good-byes are all different too.

A few weeks ago I said good-bye to a group of women I have come to love, love, love.  I speak of the lovely ladies of St. Mary Magdalene MOPS (Mothers of Pre-Schoolers).  Three years ago, when motherhood was bright, shiny, and new to me, I joined MOPS.  At the time, I was looking to get out of the house.  Maybe talk to some other ladies who could advise me on how to mother like a champ.  Women who could debate Pampers vs. Huggies with me.  But MOPS is/was so much more and I became so much more as a part of it. 

As a going away gift, many of the MOPS gals wrote me up a little something and then all their kind words were assembled in an album with their photos.  Reading it was like reading a high school year book after making its way round the class.  Lots of memories, lots of laughs, lots of references to wine!  Many prayers and wishes of luck on our journey.  And there were also lots of thoughts about me and what kind of person I am.  It really is an experience to see yourself through your friends eyes.  It's a good feeling, a very good feeling.

I truly enjoyed every posting in that book, but there was one that really hit me hard, in a very good way.  A fellow mom wrote, "It is time for you to touch the lives of those you will be living near in Hong Kong.  Who knows the experiences you will have and the people you will meet." (M.L.)

After I read those lines I had to put the book down as realization settled in.  I don't credit myself so very much that I feel like I am going to change people's lives in Hong Kong.  But in all this time, with all this planning going on, all the preparations, the decisions, the arrangements, the discussions, I failed to see that there are people in Hong Kong who are going to change my life! 

When I rolled into town 10 years ago, I never knew that here lived a woman named June who would be my next door neighbor.  She would make me jam at Christmas time and teach me how to knit.  I never knew that there were these wonderfully talented architects, who would establish Mia's Fund, which led way to Mia's Memorial Scholarship.  And I could have never imagined that there was a woman named Jessica who would become my very best friend.  A friend who totally gets me, who I never have to make excuses or apologies to because she just knows.  A friend who rocked the Prince concert with me.

There has been so much talk about the "experience" of Hong Kong, but I failed to realize that the heart of the experience will be with the people I will meet and interact with.  The people who will become my friends over the next three years.  These people whose faces I've never seen, whose names I have never spoken will be the ones who split a bottle of wine with me, encourage me to "just buy the sweater already!" and invite my kids over for a play date.  They will not replace my North Carolina friends.  Just as the heart grows when adding a child to the family, the same applies to friends. 

So to my North Carolina pals, in the words of the great Oprah, I say "until we meet again".  And to those in Hong Kong I have yet to friend, "I'm looking forward to it!".