Saying Good-Byes Again

We're getting really excited to get on the plane for the US tomorrow afternoon. It's that time of year when the increased humidity and the pollution it holds in has us longing for blue skys and clean air. There's a new nephew in the US that we're so anxious to meet, and another nephew that was just a newborn when we visitied at Christmas who is now a little guy with a huge smile that we can't wait to see in person again. There are cousins to play with and face to face conversations to enjoy with some of the people we love most in the world. There is a camp to attend and a canoeing adventure to take and a garage to paint and road trips and shopping trips and relaxing and fun. Can't wait, can't wait!

However, leaving Shanghai for the summer is bittersweet because there are friends whom we love who will not be here when we return in August. Their time in Shanghai has ended, and so the past few weeks we've been trying to squeeze in lots of time with these families. At one good-bye party we had a couple of weeks ago for two families in our small group, Gwen realized part way through the evening that her friends Ariana and Sarah wouldn't be back next year, and she bawled and bawled. Sarah's mom gathered all the little girls together and told them the wonderful news that although they are leaving, because we all love Jesus we'll be together forever in heaven.

This saying good-bye thing is tough... but now that I'm on the second summer of seeing dear friends leave not to return in the fall, and having moved away from friends several other times in our lives, I have to say I'm not sorry. Not sorry that we've had the opportunity to meet people from many different places. Not sorry that our lives have been enriched by knowing these friends, walking to dinner with them on Sundays after church, sharing great conversations and prayers together on Saturday nights, discussing parenting issues together. The kids have had sleep-overs and played basketball and skateboarded and painted fingernails and jumped on the trampoline and strung beads and watched movies and texted each other and gone to school together and so much more. I'm not sorry that we've had these relatively short relationships where we live close to one another. I know long distance relationships sometimes can't keep going. But some can. And in the end, we who profess Christ as our Savior will share eternity together, and it doesn't get much better than that.


Good-bye, Friends. We love you!